The U.S. House Wednesday voted 314-104 to continue $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel.
The fact that 103 Democrats voted to stop the aid is a telling number, says Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries.
She has a grim prediction for America’s Middle East ally the next time Democrats gain the White House.
"I guarantee you Israel will be dumped. I promise you it will happen probably on the first day. All military aid will be cut off. Everything will be cut off. So, this is a run-up to it."
Outgoing Kentuckian Thomas Massie, who submitted the measure, was the only Republican to vote for it.
The amendment was attached to the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill (SFOPS), which later passed by a 217-209 vote.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) called the vote “shocking,” particularly in the number of high-ranking Democrats who favored ending the aid.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was a notable exception. He voted against the amendment, calling it “overly broad” and saying it would make it more difficult for Israel to “confront Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region.”
Like Markell, Smith says Democrats are showing their hand.
“It is a clear indication as to where this party is heading. They are abandoning Israel at its most critical juncture when it has not just Iran, but all of its proxies still posing an existential threat to its livelihood and its very existence,” he told “Washington Watch” host Tony Perkins Thursday.
A couple of questions to ponder as mid-term elections come into view: Are U.S. Jewish voters — particularly the young — paying attention, and do they care?
Historical data shows that since 1968, Jewish voters have favored Democrats by an average margin of 71%-26%, with only minor deviations.
This trend held in the 2024 election, where Kamala Harris won between 63% and 78% of the Jewish vote, depending on the poll, though Donald Trump gained ground compared to 2020, mostly among Orthodox voters.
In a Los Angeles Times story responding to poll numbers this week, 30-year-old Ari Pollack represented many young Jews who believe the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
That view is held by 3 in 10 religious Jews in the survey who are under age 45. Among Jews who are 45 and older, that view is held by 2 in 10.
Pollack also said that he opposes the "dogmatic" teaching of pro-Israeli ideas, and that it has kept him away from attending regular synagogue services.
Cameron Bernstien, a 27-year-old medical student, is quoted in the story taking a similar stand. "I pray for people in the land of Israel. I don't need to pray for the state,” he said.
The vote may be writing on the wall that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could already see coming.
Netanyahu has publicly stated Israel is determined to become less dependent on U.S. military aid in the future, eliminating the flow of aid as a possible factor in any negotiations with the White House and the State Department.
Speaking to IDF officers, and also to the Trump administration, Netanyahu said Israel appreciates the support from its “American friends” over the years. “But today I say: We need our own independent weapons-production system. We must manufacture our own armaments,” he stated in late June.
Smith called the House vote “antisemitic.”
A longtime advocate of the U.S.-Israel relationship, he’s held House hearings on the topic.
“When you look at the three Ds — Demonization, Delegitimization and Double Standard as it applies to Israel — that’s when you're talking about an antisemitic viewpoint, and that’s what's rising with terrible, terrible gusto throughout this country, especially within the communist wing of the Democratic Party,” he said.
Democrats are fulfilling biblical prophecy, Markell says.
"The Bible says in Zechariah 12 that Israel ultimately will stand alone, and the point is she's in the process of being abandoned by all nations, and I think it's a shock to Americans that we're participating in that. But the Democrat Party, it's a party of outlaws, so I don't think we should be overly surprised that this is their thinking."
