Man plans, God laughs.
The Democrat’s progressive branch in Congress managed to kill the provision to fund the replenishment of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system in the US spending bill that just passed. The Iron Dome missile interceptor supply was severely taxed during the last round of fighting with Gaza, when over 4300 missiles and rockets were shot at civilians by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, during a 10-day period in May.
The $1 billion provision had been added by Nancy Pelosi, but the House’s antisemitic progressives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Betty McCollum, along with support from Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Jamaal Bowman and Pramila Jayapal managed to get the provision removed after threatening to vote against the entire spending bill, which would have killed the bill completely.
The US spending bill passed in the Democrat controlled House by 220-211, completely along partisan lines.
In response, US House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D) said on Tuesday that the bill would be brought up this week as a stand-alone vote, after facing pressure from pro-Israel Democrats.
This evening, I announced on the Floor that the House will consider legislation this week to fully fund Iron Dome. We will act to ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, and I expect strong, bipartisan support for this effort.
— Steny Hoyer (@LeaderHoyer)
It is very likely that the special Iron Dome bill will pass with bipartisan support.
Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid claimed the removal was a “technical postponement” implying it didn’t signify a shift in Congress against Israel, yet somehow Lapid blamed former Prime Minister Netanyahu for the growing opposition to Israel within the Democratic party.
But it is clear to all, that the anti-Israel progressives in the House are getting larger, stronger and smarter, and Israel will need to take into account their undermining of the traditional bipartisan support of Israel that existed until now.
In 2014, then President Obama suspended the delivery of needed Hellfire missiles for its Apache helicopter, following the 50-day Gaza war. The move caused a major shift in Israeli policy, and Israel understood then it couldn’t rely on the US during wartime. In response, the IAF modified its helicopters to be able to also use the locally manufactured Rafael air-to-surface missiles.