US Retains Its Support for Israel, but Fissures Emerge

WASHINGTON - For decades, a bedrock principle of United States foreign policy has been unwavering American political support for Israel. But as the latest clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces unfold this week in the most intense fighting since 2014, there are fissures. Some U.S. Democratic lawmakers are voicing complaints about Israeli attacks on Hamas in the Gaza Strip that have killed at least 83 people, while Republicans have maintained steadfast, unified support for the Jewish state, where at least six have been killed by Hamas' missile strikes. U.S. officials, the White House said, have made more than 25 calls in recent days to Israeli, Palestinian and regional Arab leaders to quell the conflict. The U.S. has dispatched an envoy to Israel to try to broker a cease-fire.

President Joe Biden talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the U.S. leader later saying, "My expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later. Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory." Biden declined to criticize Israeli actions, but the White House said that in his conversation with Netanyahu, Biden "shared his conviction that Jerusalem, a city of such importance to people of faith from around the world, must be a place of peace." The fate of Jerusalem, the Israeli capital, is at center stage in the conflict, with Palestinians angered at Jewish settlers attempting to take over Arab homes and neighborhoods, while holding out hope to one day also claim the city as the capital of a Palestinian state. Key congressional Democrats, who maintain narrow control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress, are continuing to staunchly defend Israel's right to defend itself. The U.S. in recent years has sent nearly $4 billion in military aid to Israel and guaranteed another $8 billion in loans. The U.S. and its allies consider Hamas, a Palestinian nationalist group, a terrorist organization. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, tweeted this week, "The barrage of rocket attacks from Hamas are terrorism and no country should have to tolerate this kind of threat against its population. These brazen acts threaten the safety & security of Israelis & Palestinians." But congressional Democrats below the leadership ranks have assailed Israeli attacks. Congressman Mark Pocan of Wisconsin tweeted, "We cannot just condemn rockets fired by Hamas and ignore Israel's state-sanctioned police violence against Palestinians — including unlawful evictions, violent attacks on protestors & the murder of Palestinian children. U.S. aid should not be funding this violence."