Republicans are conditioning aid to Israel

Dear Friends,

Today, there will be a vote in the House on an emergency spending bill for Israel. However, instead of approving the unconditional aid package that President Biden requested on October 20, House Republicans added unnecessary conditions on aid to Israel, requiring the full amount be cut from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). We strongly oppose this cynical Republican ploy to condition, politicize, and ultimately delay emergency aid to Israel — the President has said he would veto, and both Sens. Schumer and McConnell have said they’d oppose, delaying the delivery of this critical life-saving assistance to Israel. The House GOP is playing games with Israel’s security.

No Speaker of the House has ever conditioned aid to Israel in this manner. It’s wrong and it establishes a dangerous precedent. To add insult to injury, the Congressional Budget Office has reported that this weakening of the IRS would increase the deficit by $12.5 billion due to tax evasion.

Today’s GOP is run by MAGA extremists. Passing a clean aid bill for Israel should be easy, but today’s GOP can’t do it because they are consumed with politicizing this essential support for Israel. What is happening today proves that Democrats are stronger supporters of Israel than Republicans, and we’ll make sure to remind Jewish voters of this fact each day between now and November 2024.

Since Hamas’s horrifying terror attack on Israel, JDCA has gathered our community for weekly briefings and conversations about the crisis in Israel and the alarming rise of antisemitism around the world. Earlier this week, we hosted JDCA Board member and former U.S. Ambassador to both Israel and Egypt Hon. Dan Kurtzer for a conversation about the role of diplomacy. Watch the recording and sign up to join us next week, November 8 at 12:00 P.M. ET for a conversation with New York Governor Kathy Hochul about antisemitism and Israel.

Thank you for your continued support of JDCA and partnership.

Sincerely,

Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America