No blank check for Netanyahu! Aid to Israel must come with conditions!

While I fully support Israel’s right to bring Hamas terrorists to justice, free the remaining hostages, and protect Israeli citizens, I am extremely concerned about the fate of Gazan civilians, including those displaced from the north, as the fighting moves south. We’ve already had a sickening number of civilian deaths. No more! I know the Senate is likely to consider – as early as this week – the President’s comprehensive request for supplemental aid to Israel. This aid can’t be a ‘blank check’ for Prime Minister Netanyahu. Congress and the president should ensure that: —All necessary mechanisms are in place and enforced to ensure US security assistance is delivered and used in compliance with both domestic and international law. —No aid is diverted to enable settler violence or further steps that permanently deepen the occupation of the West Bank. This violence must stop! —Plans for the next phase of military operations must be highly targeted and provide maximum protections for civilians from potential harm. No more attacks on hospitals. NO MORE! —The delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza must be greatly increased and expedited. —We insist on a hard and fast Israeli commitment to ending the occupation of Palestinian territory in a defined and reasonable time following the end of hostilities. There is no path to resolution of this conflict if Hamas retains the operational control of Gaza that made its brutal October 7 attack possible. But the path to a better future will also be out of reach if the US sets no guardrails for the Israeli government’s military campaign and provides its assistance in the form of a blank check. No more civilian deaths! Not one! Thank you.