Ranking Member Adam Smith acknowledged frustrations with Netanyahu while defending the provision. “I strongly disagree with the notion that this is Congress just bowing to what Netanyahu wants,” Smith said. “This is to our benefit.”
Only Representative Sarah Jacobs (D-CA) joined Khanna. The amendment failed in a voice vote.
“If any other country in the world had been credibly accused of violating US and international law again and again, of killing tens of thousands of civilians of blocking food and medicine from reaching a starving population, we would not be moving to deepen and permanently expand our military tides with them,” Jacobs said ahead of the vote.
The measure, known as Section 224 of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), requires the Secretary of Defence to designate an “executive agent” responsible for synchronising cooperative efforts between the US and Israel, including bilateral defence technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation.
It also calls for joint ventures, licensing agreements, and co-production manufacturing partnerships with Israeli industry as well as joint training exercises and information-sharing mechanisms.
The amendment came as recent polls showed that the US public’s sympathy for Israel has hit a historic low following Tel Aviv’s two-year genocide in Gaza.
Israel has killed nearly 73,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded over 173,000 in Gaza. Analysts say it is an undercount and the actual death toll could be around 200,000.
Israel, which occupies over half of Gaza and plans to expand its occupation to 70 percent, has reduced most of the besieged enclave to ruins and displaced almost all of its population.
