Domestic political bickering between Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress is blocking US aid to Israel amid the Middle East crisis. Yesterday the US House of Representatives passed a billion dollar pro-Israel bill. However, the aid is subject to conditions, which has met with stiff opposition from US President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats. The legislative proposals are therefore unlikely to pass the Senate and eventually come into effect.
A few days ago, Biden asked Congress for an aid package worth about 105 billion US dollars (a good 99 billion euros), which provides large-scale support to Israel and Ukraine, among others. However, some Republicans in the House of Representatives have reservations about sending more aid to Ukraine. They wanted to vote separately in favor of Ukraine and Israel.
So the Republican leadership in the House made a split and initially presented a package only on Israel. The draft just approved provides $14.3 billion (€13.46 billion) in aid to Israel.
Biden’s Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate, the other chamber of Congress. There the attempt is unlikely to succeed.
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