Thomas Massie Sparks a Democratic Civil War Over Israel

His amendment to cut all military aid to Israel split the Democratic Party almost evenly.

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The libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) is making active use of his last few months in Congress. One of his many last-minute pushes to disrupt business as usual was an amendment to the State Department budget that would fully eliminate U.S. financial aid to Israel. The Massie amendment failed 104–314, but not before causing Democratic leaders serious angst.

House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D–N.Y.) voted against the Massie amendment, calling it "overly broad." Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D–Texas) responded that "the American people are crying out" to stop "sending billions of dollars to a military that has killed tens of thousands of civilians." Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D–Mass.) reluctantly voted for the amendment, while condemning the "stunts from Congressional Republicans who would rather score cheap political points than lead." It was an odd statement to make, considering Massie was the only Republican to vote for the amendment.

Under a memorandum signed by President Barack Obama in 2016, the U.S. had committed to giving Israel $3.8 billion per year for the next ten years, including $3.3 billion in "Foreign Military Financing," money provided by the State Department for the Israeli army to buy weapons. Unlike other military aid recipients, Israel gets the money in an interest-bearing bank account and is not required to spend all of it on American weapons. The Massie amendment would zero out that budget line and forbid the State Department from otherwise spending money on Israel.

The vote was so uncomfortable for Democrats because it pitted leadership directly against the party base. Polls show that a majority of Democratic voters oppose any American weapons for the Israeli army, let alone taxpayer-funded ones, over its conduct toward Palestinians and role in the war with Iran. At the same time, Democratic leaders and donors remain committed to "keep[ing] the left pro-Israel," as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) famously told the New York Times.

That tension is seriously bubbling over into congressional primaries, where insurgent candidates have made the Palestinian issue their rallying cry, while pro-Israeli organizations have rallied behind the establishment. Former Columbia University campus protester (and radical socialist) Darializa Avila Chevalier recently unseated machine boss Adriano Espaillat in New York, and pro-Israeli donors have made the Senate primary in Michigan one of the most expensive primaries in history.

In other words, the Massie amendment forced Democrats to go on the record about an issue at exactly the moment that either position could cost them their seats. Jeffries circulated a letter more or less telling members to vote their conscience, and that's exactly what they didn't want to do. Members "expressed alarm" at how to handle the Massie amendment and were "begging for leadership guidance," Punchbowl News reports.

Some members tried to dance around the question of military aid itself. Jeffries wrote in his letter that the Massie amendment would threaten "humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and U.S. Embassy operations," and many Democrats cited those concerns to justify their own "No" votes. Casar wrote in his response letter to Jeffries that "while I wish we could vote on an amendment targeted just to military aid, and of course support humanitarian programs, we do not have that option." He recommended voting for the amendment.

The question wasn't difficult for Massie himself, given his principled libertarian opposition to all foreign aid. (He also recently proposed amendments to cut aid to three Arab countries: Jordan, Egypt, and Tunisia.) But Massie's uncompromising position forced him specifically into a confrontation with Israel, which received massive infusions of aid in response to the October 2023 attacks by Hamas. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee backed a primary challenge against Massie, and when he lost, he joked that his opponent was busy celebrating in Tel Aviv.

Massie himself presented Wednesday's vote as a way to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bluff: "Netanyahu said he wants to reduce Israel's dependence on US aid; let's start now." Of course, Netanyahu's plan is quite different. He wants to gradually reduce foreign military financing while directly integrating Israeli and U.S. military supply chains. Congress is currently advancing an integration plan, known as Section 219, that Massie is also trying to stop.

"I'm concerned that the other funding mechanisms that they're talking about, or commingling our technology and supply chains, will have even less transparency than what's going on here today," Massie said in his floor speech about the amendment. "I'm opposed to all foreign aid. I didn't pick on Israel here. I proposed an amendment to defund Egypt and also to defund the aid to Jordan…but I am particularly concerned this year about the foreign aid to Israel."