On Thursday evening, the House of Representatives approved a bill to provide Israel with US$ one billion in aid to replenish stockpiles of Iron Dome interceptors, used up during the IDF’s last clash with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in May.
The decision to provide the funding was made earlier this year by US President Joe Biden during his meeting at the White House in August with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Initially, the Democratic Party leadership tried to insert the provision into a stopgap spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown at the end of the month. But then they came up against opposition from the far-left flank of the party, including members of the so-called “Squad” like representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
Leadership of the party pulled the provision from the bill and decided to bring it back to the House as a stand-alone piece of legislation, which was done on Thursday, passing with an overwhelming majority of 420 to 9.
Interestingly, Ocasio-Cortez voted “present” – a form of abstaining – after initially planning to vote against the bill. She was later seen crying on the House floor.
In a letter to her constituents in New York that she posted to Twitter Friday, Ocasio-Cortez said she was inclined to vote “no” at first because she opposes giving “unconditional” aid to Israel while “doing nothing to address or raise the persistent human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.” She did not explain what caused her to switch her vote to “present.”
On the one hand, Israel can breathe a sigh of relief. The bill passed and it received overwhelming support. On the other hand, Israel needs to be deeply concerned with what is happening in the Democratic Party and how even something like Iron Dome – a purely defensive system that saves lives – is no longer a matter of consensus. Instead, even Iron Dome stirs controversy.
It is important that we recognize the truth, Israel has a problem. Part of it is the fault of Israel and part of it has nothing to do with Israel.
The part that is on Israel is the active role the previous prime minister played in undermining support for Israel in the Democratic Party. He did this by intentionally clashing with then-President Barack Obama, the way he spoke against the Iran deal in 2015 in Congress and the way he cozied up to former President Donald Trump, while knowing that it could push away Democratic friends.
On the other hand, some of the trends seen today in the Democratic Party have nothing to do with Israel. The Squad wasn’t created around Israel but rather to advance progressive, far-left issues in which Israel gets entangled.
It is into this situation that Mike Herzog, Israel’s newly-confirmed ambassador will enter when he arrives in a few weeks in Washington. He will have to maneuver between an administration and Congress that is seemingly supportive of Israel on the one hand, but also needs to balance that support within a party that appears to be moving farther and farther to the Left.
The Iron Dome fiasco shows what Herzog’s number one mission needs to be, trying to repair ties within the Democratic Party while building new alliances and relationships with minority groups throughout the US.
Policy on Iran is important but that will anyhow be determined by the political echelon. Policy on the Palestinians is also important but everyone knows that not too much can happen now anyhow due to the unique makeup of the current government.
Where the needle can potentially move is in the relationship between Israel and the current ruling party in the US. Herzog should come to this with a strategic plan, focused on identifying friends and untapped potential allies, and communicating about Israel and its policies in a way that can appeal to a progressive and liberal demographic.
Waiting out an administration or a Congress is not a strategy even though that is what former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did when Obama was president.
Israel needs to initiate, to communicate and to build relationships. What happened with Iron Dome shows how important all of this is?
