As lawmakers return to Washington this week with the fate of President Joe Biden’s more than $100 billion national security package still uncertain, there is a growing conversation over whether to put conditions on the U.S. aid it includes for Israel as it battles Hamas.
The debate – particularly on the Democratic side – comes amid mounting calls from some, both at home and abroad, for a full cease-fire over concerns about the death toll of Palestinian civilians and the humanitarian situation in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis. The topic, which has divided some in the Democratic party, has led to protests across the country, including one in front of the Democratic National Committee headquarters earlier this month.
“I think that's a debate we're going to – certainly we're going to have in the coming days,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said when asked about placing conditions on aid in an interview on CBS’ "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
“We regularly condition our aid to allies based upon compliance with U.S. law and international law and so I think it's very consistent with the ways in which we have dispensed aid, especially during wartime, to allies, for us to talk about making sure that the aid we give Ukraine or the aid we give Israel is used in accordance with human rights laws,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday.
“And that will be a conversation we will all be engaged in when we get back to Washington on Monday,” he added, saying amid the humanitarian concerns, he believes Israel needs to be more “careful in the way that it is conducting” its operations in Gaza.
The consideration received heightened attention starting last week when Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., published an op-ed in the New York Times arguing for placing requirements on U.S. aid to Israel.
“The blank check approach must end. The United States must make clear that while we are friends of Israel, there are conditions to that friendship and that we cannot be complicit in actions that violate international law and our own sense of decency,” Sanders wrote.
Biden himself called the idea a “worthwhile thought,” while giving remarks marking Hamas’ release of about two-dozen hostages on Friday.
“Well, I think that’s a — a worthwhile thought, but I don’t think if I started off with that we’d ever gotten to where we are today,” the president said in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he spent the Thanksgiving holiday.
Appearing on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sought to make clear that in his remark on Friday, the president “acknowledged” the idea of putting conditions on aid but argued Biden believed his form of diplomacy was more effective and was producing real results.
Biden’s diplomacy, Sullivan argued, is what has led to humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza, foreign nationals including Americans getting out of Gaza and the first pause in fighting since the war began amid the release of some hostages.
“All of that has been the product of presidential engagement, private engagement, hard diplomacy,” Sullivan said.
The fresh debate over aid to Israel adds another layer to already tenuous negotiations in Congress over Biden’s national security request, which includes funds for Israel in its war with Hamas, Ukraine as it battles Russia, the Indo-Pacific and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ukraine has long been a sticking point as a portion of House Republicans fiercely push back on additional aid to the country and some Senate Republicans want border policy changes in the bill if Ukraine aid is included.
A bipartisan group of senators have been negotiating such border changes.