The House of Representatives has blocked a vote on a proposed amendment aimed at halting US-Israeli defence integration plans.
Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) put forward the bipartisan amendment, which would have excised the planned United States-Israel Defence Technology Cooperation Initiative from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The initiative will, should the bill pass, see an executive agent appointed with the goal of further integrating US and Israeli defence technology across the defence sphere.
In preparation for the debate on the bill, the House Rules Committee had to examine more than 1,000 amendments and produce a list of those deemed “in order”, meaning they would be eligible for votes on the House floor. Khanna and Massie’s amendment was not among those selected when the list was publicised on Monday.
"Congress has blocked the amendment [Massie] and I introduced to stop the integration of our military with Israel’s,” said Khanna.
"It is unconscionable to not even have a vote. We will be continuing on and will not be intimidated by the pro-Israel lobby.”
Meanwhile, the Rules Committee also blocked a vote on another of Massie’s proposed amendments, this time on the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act.
Massie, a fiscal hawk who is due to step down in November after losing the Republican primary to a Trump-backed candidate, put forward an amendment to ban the use of any funds allocated in the Act from being sent to Israel, as well as to cut the US’ Foreign Military Financing budget by $3.3 billion.
The amendment looked set to received substantial support from Democrats, but critics, including prominent Jewish representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY), suggested that it was “poorly drafted” and “overly broad”.
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