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Congressional Dems Shift to Overwhelmingly Oppose Involvement in Israel’s War on Lebanon

Democratic leaders did not formally whip for Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s bill, but they spoke in favor of it on the House floor.

Democratic Party leaders in the House reversed course and moved to back a resolution against U.S. involvement in Israel’s war on Lebanon on Tuesday, giving the bill overwhelming support from Democrats for the first time since Congress began seeking to address the conflict.

The resolution sponsored by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., failed 235–189, with near-universal opposition from Republicans.

The vote was another sign of changing attitudes among Democrats about Israel.

The vote was another sign of changing attitudes among Democrats about Israel.

Still, the vote was another sign of changing attitudes among Democrats about Israel: 187 Democrats voted in favor of it, and only 22 voted against.

Tlaib’s resolution marked the second time she has forced the House to go on the record about the war on Lebanon, which Israel says is aimed at Hezbollah but has left a fifth of the country displaced and thousands dead.

Under the 1973 War Powers Act, any member of Congress can force a vote on U.S. involvement in hostilities. Critics of Israel suspect the U.S. military has supported Israel’s attacks on Lebanon through help with developing target lists or refueling military aircraft. (U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the region, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

On June 4, Tlaib’s first attempt to pass a war powers resolution about Lebanon failed on a 324–92 vote.

House Democratic leaders opposed that earlier resolution because of what they said were drafting errors that might have inadvertently forced the U.S. to stop protecting its embassy in Beirut or providing aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces, the regular military of the Lebanese government.

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The more recent version of the legislation gained the support of Democratic leaders by including explicit carveouts for those activities. While leadership did not officially whip the vote, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who is close to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,........

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