Anna Therese Day

It should surprise no one that Trump was lying about ending taxpayer funding to Israel. Not only are his allies in Congress trying to funnel our tax dollars to Israeli weapons companies through the Pentagon, but Israeli media is now reporting that Trump plans to maintain the current annual funding level to send at least another $19 billion to Israel over the next five years. Members of Congress are not obligated to agree to this funding. They must strip it out of any future budgets.

Democrats have every bit of leverage to strip these provisions out of the NDAA or choose not to pass an NDAA this year. Leaving these provisions in the bill and passing it would be a major betrayal of voters. These measures would: - open a backdoor for sending Israeli weapons companies billions of US taxpayer dollars without congressional oversight - give the Israeli government veto authority over how weapons co-produced by US and Israeli companies are used by the US - fast-track Pentagon procurement of Israeli weapons and surveillance systems tested on Palestinians to be used within US borders - increase Israel's access to Pentagon intelligence at a time when the Pentagon has raised the threat of Israeli spying to the highest possible level