Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), one of President Joe Biden‘s strongest Democratic allies in the Senate, offered his clearest indication yet that he would support conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel in the aftermath of an airstrike that killed humanitarian aid workers.
For months, Coons has said he would support conditions on the aid if Israel were to move forward with a full-scale ground invasion into Rafah. However, the senator, generally a pro-Israel Democrat, expressed the frustrations of many party lawmakers who are starting to pull away from the idea of unrestricted aid as the civilian death toll in Gaza rises.
When asked if now is the time to tell Israel that there needs to be a change in tactics if U.S. military aid is to continue, Coons said to CNN on Thursday, “I think we’re at that point.”
“I’ve never said that before, I’ve never been here before,” the senator continued. “I’ve been a strong supporter of Israel the whole time I’ve served in Congress.”
The Israeli airstrike on Monday that killed seven humanitarian workers from the World Central Kitchen has exacerbated a growing divide within the Democratic Party as the Jewish state attempts to destroy Hamas in the aftermath of its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion that killed around 1,200 people.
The president is expected to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for the first time since the airstrike. Biden said in a statement Tuesday that “Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians.”
In the appropriations legislation for fiscal 2024 passed in March, Congress allocated $3.3 billion in aid to Israel. However, some Democrats have called on the Biden administration to take a harder line on its conduct in the war, with one saying that it’s time to “pull the plug on unconditional aid.”
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“The challenge is to make it clear that we support the Israeli people, that we want to and will continue to have a strong and close relationship with Israel, but that the tactics by which the current prime minister is making these decisions don’t reflect the best values of Israel or the United States,” said Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I think we can move forward if we see real seriousness about addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as the security crisis that Israel continues to face,” Coons added.