Follow us on social

Jamie Raskin Pramila Jayapal

Democrats to admin: Use your tools to get aid into Gaza now

House Dems joined their Senate counterparts urging the release of all Israeli hostages, too

Analysis | QiOSK

On Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), Bill Keating (Mass), Valerie Foushee (N.C.), and Becca Balint (Vt.) introduced a resolution urging the Trump administration to use all possible diplomatic tools to ensure that aid reaches Gaza. The resolution also called for the release of Israeli hostages.

As of Wednesday, the resolution had 92 co-sponsors, all Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In her press release, Jayapal stated, “Innocent civilian lives — children and babies — can be saved by ensuring that much-needed aid gets to Gazans. … This humanitarian crisis is man-made and can be solved by allowing aid trucks to enter Gaza.”

The resolution is the House companion to an identical Senate resolution introduced last month by Sen.Peter Welch (D-Vt.). That resolution was supported by all 45 Senate Democrats except Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). The unity of Senate Democrats on getting aid into Gaza reflects American public opinion, although the party has been slow to align with Americans’ views. Over a year ago, 75 percent of Democrats already opposed Israel’s military actions in Gaza. As of April, Pew reported that a majority of Democrats no longer hold a favorable view of Israel.

This dynamic is not limited to Democrats: a recent poll from Data for Progress showed that 76 percent of all U.S. voters (including a 49 percent plurality of Republicans) support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Fifty-one percent, including 41 percent of Republicans polled, said they want President Trump to demand a ceasefire as opposed to backing Israel’s new military operation to seize control of the territory.

The House and Senate measures are unlikely to get a vote. Instead they are symbolic, intended to send a message and to unite Democratic support behind getting aid into Gaza. Welch’s bill succeeded in uniting Senate Democrats, and Jayapal’s bill has already attracted additional supporters.

A few Republicans have also expressed concerns about Israel’s conduct. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has condemned it most clearly, posting on X on May 29 that: “Nothing can justify the number of civilian casualties (tens of thousands of women and children) inflicted by Israel in Gaza in the last two years. We should end all U.S. military aid to Israel now.”

Massie’s stance goes beyond what many Democrats have been willing to call for, although his position does reflect the views of the majority of Americans. A recent poll found that 49 percent of Republicans want Trump to rein in Israel, including by withholding security assistance in order to end the bombings, in contrast to 29 percent who oppose that position.

The House resolution comes at a critical time. For over three months, Israel has prevented almost all food, water, and fuel from entering Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new entity established by Israel and staffed by American mercenaries, has been responsible for the deaths of dozens of Palestinians since it launched operations in late May. As of Wednesday, the GHF had shut down its four distribution sites after the IDF killed dozens of Palestinians who had tried to receive aid during three separate incidents.

Traditional aid groups like the World Food Program and UNRWA have repeatedly condemned the GHF’s militarization of aid, as well as its general ineptitude and apparent disinterest in preventing famine; the head of UNRWA said that the GHF instead reflects a “distraction from atrocities.” As of early May, the World Health Organization reported that 57 children had already died of malnutrition; the blockade has largely remained in place since then.

The Trump administration has yet to apply significant pressure to Netanyahu to insist that aid be allowed into Gaza. Yet images of starving babies, and now children reportedly coming under fire while trying to obtain food, continue to stream out of Gaza. Given where American public opinion is heading on Israel’s starvation of Palestinians, more members of Congress may decide that voting in favor of getting aid into Gaza is hardly a controversial position.


Top image credit: Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, speaks as Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, left, listens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 12, 2019. Andrew Harrer/Pool via REUTERS
Analysis | QiOSK
Abrams M1A2 Main Battle Tank
Top photo credit: An Abrams M1A2 Main Battle Tank is loaded onto a trailer headed to Vaziani TrainingArea May 5, 2016, in preparation for Noble Partner 16. (Photo by Spc. Ryan Tatum, 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division)

Gutting military testing office may be the deadliest move yet

Military Industrial Complex

With the stroke of a pen, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has gutted the Pentagon’s weapon testing office.

His order is intended to “eliminate any non-statutory or redundant functions” by reducing the office to 30 civilian employees and 15 assigned military personnel. The order also terminates contractor support for the testing office.

keep readingShow less
President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Top image credit: President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attends the 34th Arab League summit, in Baghdad, Iraq, May 17, 2025. Hadi Mizban/Pool via REUTERS

Egypt's energy gamble has left it beholden to Israel

Middle East

As the scorching summer season approaches, Egypt finds itself once again in the throes of an uncomfortable ritual: the annual scramble for natural gas.

Recent reports paint a concerning picture of what's to come, industrial gas supplies to vital sectors like petrochemicals and fertilizers have been drastically cut, some by as much as 50 percent. The proximate cause? Routine maintenance at Israel’s Leviathan mega-field, leading to a significant drop in imports.

But this is merely the latest symptom of a deeper, more chronic ailment. Egypt, once lauded as a rising energy hub, has fallen into a perilous trap of dependence, its national security and foreign policy options increasingly constrained by an awkward reliance on Israeli gas.

For years, the Egyptian government assured its populace and the world of an impending energy bonanza. The discovery of the gargantuan Zohr gas field in 2015, hailed as the largest in the Mediterranean, was presented as the dawn of a new era. By 2018, when Zohr began production, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared that Egypt had "scored a goal," promising self-sufficiency and even the transformation into a regional gas exporter. The vision was that Egypt, once an importer, would leverage its strategic location and liquefaction plants to become a vital conduit for Eastern Mediterranean gas flowing to Europe.

Billions were poured into new power stations, further solidifying the nation's reliance on gas for electricity generation, which today accounts for a staggering 60 percent of its total consumption.

keep readingShow less
Karol Nawrocki
Top image credit: Karol Nawrocki holds a rally March 2025. KSikorski / Shutterstock.com

Trumpism finds a home in Poland

Europe

In a nail-biter finish to a bitter campaign, a polarized Polish electorate over the weekend chose the Euro-skeptic, populist right candidate, Karol Nawrocki over Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw.

This contest, with close parallels to the recent one in Romania, produced an unanticipated triumph for Nawrocki, who, like George Simian, his Romanian counterpart, aligned himself with the MAGA agenda of President Trump. At a CPAC meetingheld in Poland in the lead-up to Poland’s runoff, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s endorsement of Nawrocki was applauded by populist nationalist leaders from across Europe.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.