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Nineteen Senate Democrats join “Hamas Caucus”

Nineteen Senate Democrats have voted for legislation that would restrict U.S. weapons sales to Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East. Some foreign policy observers told the Washington Reporter the votes group such Democrats into a “Hamas Caucus.”

The measures, put forward by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), would restrict additional American weapons from being sold to Israel while the country is in the midst of an existential multi-front war. The Reporterfirst covered Sanders’s plans to delay these votes until after the election, which would allow more Democrats to vote against America’s ally, without fear of electoral repercussions.

Jewish voters across America shifted drastically to the right this election cycle, as Bonnie Glick and the Republican Jewish Coalition’s (RJC) Matt Brooks noted in a Washington Reporter op-ed. “Dangerous, disgraceful” votes to cut off aid to Israel, the RJC said, are “a major reason why Democrats continue to hemorrhage Jewish support.”

“Sanders’s attempt to halt life-saving aid to Israel in the midst of a war would be like trying to stop US aid to Great Britain during the blitz,” a foreign policy expert told the Reporter.

While the majority of senators in both parties opposed Sanders’s legislation, J Street, a self-proclaimed pro-Israel organization, backed Sanders and his legislation, marking a noted shift in the organization’s posturing.

“J Street’s true colors have been apparent for years, but its support of these resolutions to cut off lifesaving aid to Israel, while Israel is in the midst of an existential war, should put the nail in the coffin for anyone to claim that J Street is pro-Israel,” a pro-Israel veteran said.

“The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) and J Street are feckless apologists and lack the moral courage to stand with the Jewish community and would rather be partisan hacks and support the worst of the worst,” the RJC’s Brooks told the Reporter.

Several of the Democrats who voted against Israel were purportedly more moderate on the issue than others who sided with them are known to be, including Sens. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) “These guys are dead to us,” a political operative involved in pro-Israel campaigns said.

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