The White House on Tuesday issued a veto threat against a House GOP bill that would require President Biden to send offensive weapons to Israel.
House lawmakers are expected to vote on the Israel Security Assistance Support Act from Rep. Ken Calvert, California Republican, on Wednesday.
It would require that the Biden administration reverse the pause on weapons transfers to the Jewish State, and also seeks to nullify Mr. Biden’s threats to further halt sending some weapons to assist in the Israel-Hamas war.
The Biden administration called Mr. Calvert’s bill a “misguided reaction and deliberate distortion” of Mr. Biden’s threat to withhold arms from the Jewish state.
Last week, Mr. Biden said that he would no longer supply Israel with certain weapons unless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reined in plans to enter the Gazan city of Rafah, which is home to over 1 million Palestinian civilians as well as Hamas fighters.
“The bill is a misguided reaction to a deliberate distortion of the Administration’s approach to Israel,” the White House said. “The President has been clear: we will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself. Our commitment to Israel is ironclad.”
Critics say that Mr. Biden’s decision was politically motivated and would ignore a law that he signed to send billions in aid to Israel, but the White House argued that it was done to align with the administration’s foreign policy goals.
Mr. Calvert’s bill, the administration argued, also could breach Mr. Biden’s constitutionally granted authority as commander-in-chief to make foreign policy decisions.
House Democrats are likely to vote en masse against the measure, arguing that the legislation is nothing more than a messaging tool from Republicans that seeks to further politicize the role of the U.S. in the ongoing conflict.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a staunch supporter of Israel, said in a statement on Tuesday that House Republicans were trying to use Israel as a “political cudgel.”
“As an American Jew, I am offended by the politicization and partisan manipulation of these very serious issues,” the New York Democrat.