This week, Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) moved to strip every dollar of American security assistance to Israel from the State Department funding bill for the upcoming fiscal year. Every other House Republican answered with a single, unified and unmistakable voice: No.
The GOP-led House of Representatives defeated Massie’s reckless move, and in doing so proved what the RJC has said all along: under the strong leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), America has Israel’s back.
Take a long, hard look at who lined up behind Massie. Not a single vote came from his colleagues in the House GOP conference, but 103 Democrats voted with him. That is a majority of the House Democratic caucus — a significant and searing indictment of where their party stands. Remember, a majority of Senate Democrats also voted to block military aid to Israel in April.
Make no mistake: Thomas Massie is a contingent of one in the Republican Party, a lame duck outlier whose crusade against the Jewish state found no resonance on the GOP side of the aisle. The Republican majority left no doubt about where it stands: resolutely, unwaveringly, with Israel.
The contrast could not be starker, and this vote laid it bare. One party kept faith with Israel. The other had 103 Members vote to abandon the Jewish state. For Republicans, supporting Israel is a longstanding commitment. For today’s Democrats, it is an open question — one their radical base is working daily to destroy, while their leadership fails to confront it with the required seriousness.
Where are the pro-Israel Democrats who once anchored their party’s foreign policy? From Democratic leadership, including Katherine Clark (D., Mass.), the Democrats’ Minority Whip and number 2 in the House, to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), to the deranged Squad, the direction of their party is unmistakable, and the honest ones among them admit it.
There is an alternative to a party where hostility to the Jewish state has become the price of admission to appease the base. It is the party that just voted to keep faith with our closest friend and ally in the Middle East.
This week, the House of Representatives spoke. The American Jewish community should listen closely and remember which party had Israel’s back when it counted.
Matt Brooks is the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition. The RJC is the national grassroots organization of Jewish Republicans and represents tens of thousands of Jewish Republicans across this country.
