Progressives see 'historic' moment to shift US relations with Israel | TheHill

“Domestic politics has always been a reality when it comes to U.S. and Israeli relationship, and U.S. support of Israel,” said Aaron David Miller, who served as a negotiator on Israeli and Palestinian peace efforts across Republican and Democratic administrations.“I think now more than any time I’ve watched this movie — the stress on the U.S.-Israeli relationship and the criticisms of Israel’s actions are probably greater now than ever before," he added.Progressive groups feel that momentum is on their side, bolstered by changing priorities among Democrats that have promoted policy shifts on climate change, health care, criminal justice reform and racial equity.“Conditioning aid to the Israeli government is a policy that is supported by the overwhelming majority of Democrats but is not supported by the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Washington,” said Waleed Sahid, communications director for Justice Democrats, the political action committee behind the rise of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezOn The Money: Biden tries to navigate bumpy recovery | Jobless claims hit another post-pandemic low | Treasury calls for 15 percent minimum global tax Will the Squad break away from the Democrats over Israel? Republicans criticized Biden's behind-the-scenes diplomacy as failing to more publicly defend Israel in the face of criticism from progressives and the international community.The president managed to push Israel towards a cease-fire and avoided making an overt public demand that experts say would have been unprecedented in the relationship."If Biden is lucky, he’ll be able to continue to navigate this," said Miller, who is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.He added that the U.S. and Israel relationship is not at a crisis point, but that the bipartisanship that typically undergirds the relationship is "under greater stress than ever before."Israel says it does everything in its power to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties when carrying out air strikes in Gaza and condemns Hamas for setting up their military operations in population centers.While the U.S.-supported Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted about 90 percent of Hamas rocket fire, 13 people were killed in Israel and millions were forced into bomb shelters.Israel-advocacy groups opposed to progressives' push for conditioning military aid to Israel say such restrictions would threaten the safety of the Israeli people because the aid is vital Israel's attempts to deter and degrade Hamas military capabilities, and serves to strengthen Israel against threats from other terrorist groups and conflict with Syria and Iran.“We don’t support efforts to block military sales to Israel,” said Halie Soifer, CEO of the advocacy organization Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA).In public statements and briefings with lawmakers and staff on Capitol Hill, JDCA stresses that the proposed $735 million arms sale is unrelated to the current hostilities and part of U.S. commitments in the 2016 U.S. and Israel Memorandum of Understanding, committing $38 billion to Israel over 10 years in foreign military financing, which includes $500 million annually for the Iron Dome.