MATSUI STATEMENT ON HOUSE AMENDMENT TO CUT MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-07) issued the following statement after voting YES on an amendment to H.R. 8595, cutting $3.3 billion in military funding to Israel.

"The United States and Israel have a long and important relationship, and I will always support the safety and security of the Israeli people. But the status quo is untenable," said Congresswoman Matsui. "I cannot support funding for military aid to any country that fails to comply with U.S. law, U.S. interests, and U.S. values. The Netanyahu government has failed to meet its commitments to peace, humanitarian access, and international law. In Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and now in its efforts to draw the United States further into conflict with Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu's government has shown that it cannot be trusted to use these funds responsibly. That is why I voted yes today."

"This vote is about the conduct of a government-not Israel's right to exist, and never the Israeli people. I will continue to support funding for critical defensive programs. Criticism of a government is never license for antisemitism or Islamophobia, and I will keep fighting both wherever they appear," Matsui continued. "This amendment is not perfect. It is drafted broadly enough that it could affect more than Foreign Military Financing. True security requires a sustainable path: surging humanitarian aid to Gaza, halting settlement construction and settler violence in the West Bank, upholding Palestinian self-determination, and securing permanent peace.

"Republican leadership brought this amendment up in bad faith to divide a growing pro-peace coalition," Matsui concluded. "I will not let that bad faith obscure the truth: continuing to send military assistance to the Netanyahu government without accountability is not a path to peace."

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