We cannot undermine our ally Israel’: 26 Democrats pan Biden’s hold up of weapons

File: Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, attend a vigil for Israeli victims of Hamas’s October 7 massacre on the steps of the US Capitol Building, October 12, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images via JTA)

WASHINGTON — Twenty-six Democrats in the US House of Representatives have asked the White House for a briefing on why President Joe Biden suspended the delivery of large bombs to Israel, the latest sign of fractures in the party over Israel policy.

“We are deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel, during a critical moment in the negotiations,” said the letter sent Friday to Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, referring to US-led efforts to broker a truce to allow for the release of hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel has said that in exchange, it would release Palestinian security prisoners.

Earlier this week, Biden confirmed that he was suspending delivery of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs because he did not want Israel to use them as its forces invaded Rafah, a city on Gaza’s border with Egypt that Israel says is the last major redoubt of Hamas forces.

“With democracy under assault around the world, we cannot undermine our ally Israel, especially in her greatest hour of need,” said the letter spearheaded by Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, who is Jewish. “America’s commitments must always be ironclad.”

Other Jewish signatories included pro-Israel mainstay Reps. Brad Schneider of Illinois; Jared Moskowitz, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Lois Frankel of Florida; Kathy Manning of North Carolina and Greg Landsman of Ohio.

By contrast, Biden’s announcement drew praise from progressives who have for months been pressing him to leverage aid to Israel as a means of curbing casualties in the war. One of the most outspoken is Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Jewish Vermonter who is the de facto leader of congressional progressives.

“Given the unprecedented humanitarian disaster that Netanyahu’s war has created in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of children face starvation, President Biden is absolutely right to halt bomb delivery to this extreme, right-wing Israeli government,” Sanders said Wednesday in a statement.

War erupted when Hamas-led terrorists launched the October 7 massacre on southern communities, murdering 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 252 hostages to Gaza.

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, at least 34,943 Palestinians have been killed and 78,572 injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since October 7. The figures have not been independently verified, do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, and include at least 15,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

A total of 271 IDF soldiers have been killed in the army’s Gaza ground operation.