Biden under pressure from within his own party to use leverage on Israel

The clash between the United States and Israel — and the pressure campaign from the left — comes as Congress weighs the Biden administration’s request to send more than $14.3 billion to Israel as part of a nearly $106 billion national security supplemental package. However, lawmakers who have begun openly pressing for a ceasefire or pause in Israel’s Gaza campaign largely believed they missed their opportunity to demand strings be attached to the Israel aid.

The GOP-controlled House voted Thursday to pass a standalone Israel aid package paid for by cuts to IRS funding, making it radioactive to most Democrats. The Senate is putting together a bipartisan proposal that many in the upper chamber hope the House will eventually accept. Lawmakers want to see movement on humanitarian assurances before taking a high-profile vote on the bill, even if they’re not going to demand legislative conditions on the Israel funding.

“The Biden administration has to make certain that the needs of the civilians are being protected. They have a lot of influence over the war plan,” Welch said. “The war plan that Israel has clearly doesn’t take into account the civilian casualties and what’s very worrisome about that is two things — one, civilian deaths, but two, it’s a bad plan. We’ve seen in the past that it just creates more opposition.”

In response to such pressure, administration officials have detailed to lawmakers their “daily” campaign of attempting to hold the Israeli government accountable, and expressing the importance of minimizing civilian casualties and ensuring access to basic needs like water and fuel. And an administration official noted that when the United States transfers weapons to Israel or any other country, it requires that those weapons be used in accordance with the law of armed conflict.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with a handful of senators in the White House situation room this week to make that case, according to two attendees who were granted anonymity to speak about the meeting.

“The administration is [pushing] daily — they tell us they’re pushing daily — at every level for a whole series of changes, and I think we’re starting to see some,” Merkley said, recounting recent decisions to turn on water and allow humanitarian trucks to deliver goods.

Other Democratic leaders so far are stopping short of directly calling for a ceasefire. Asked Friday about supporting a ceasefire or a “pause” in the conflict, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries outlined several principles he believed needed to happen — like the defeat of Hamas, the freeing of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid — but stressed “how that is managed logistically” was best left to international governments and organizations.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the U.S. position on a humanitarian pause directly to Israel on Friday. He told reporters that during a meeting with Netanyahu earlier that day, he urged Israel to pursue a pause in fighting and gave advice about how to minimize Palestinian civilian deaths while targeting Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.