The Senate has still not funded Israel’s Iron Dome. Jewish Democrats accuse Rand Paul

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US Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Leaves the Senate Chamber of the United States Capitol on July 21, 2021 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images / TNS) (Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images / TNS)

WASHINGTON – When progressive House Democrats fought to vote for aid to Israel’s Iron Dome defense shield, outrage from mainstream Democrats and Republicans spilled over.

Florida Democratic Representative Ted Deutch said the opposition allowed “the dismantling of the only Jewish state in the world.”

The National Republican Senate Committee called progressives “anti-Israel radicals.”

In the end, just 4% of House Democrats – eight in total, as well as one Republican – Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie – voted against the $ 1 billion defense credit in September.

But for the next two months, the Senate took no action to finalize the passage.

And Jewish Democrats largely blame one man: Rand Paul.

“This same level of outrage was not directed against this one senator: Rand Paul,” said Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “Rand Paul’s hold is far more substantial than those eight votes not combined.”

This week, the JDCA emailed its national list of about 25,000, lambasting Paul and urging its members to rally against his position.

“Every Democratic senator supports this funding, but Israel has yet to receive this crucial aid due to Republican obstruction.

Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell are abdicating their responsibility to prevent Rand Paul from blocking these funds, thus demonstrating their blatant hypocrisy on this issue, ”the letter read.

A second group, the Democratic Majority for Israel, also targeted Paul this week.

Paul opposed the unanimous consent of the funding in an attempt to secure a condition that the billion dollars for Israel come from the remaining 3.6 billion dollars allocated to the reconstruction of Afghanistan, which the The US military left in August. (In the Senate, any senator can delay another senator’s request.)

This money was earmarked before the Taliban took control of the country and Paul wants to make sure that those dollars are not spent on a faction that America was at war with for 20 years.

President Joe Biden’s administration has frozen Afghan assets and said it will continue to deny Taliban funding, but has not ruled out potentially sending money to the regime based on its actions and pledges. ‘he takes from the international community.

“The only people who oppose funding for Iron Dome are the Democrats who absurdly block Dr. Paul’s GOP-backed efforts to fund it with money that would otherwise end up in the hands of the Taliban,” the government said. Paul’s spokesperson, Kelsey Cooper.

Soifer of the JDCA calls this position “baseless and laughable,” noting that the remaining funds allocated to Afghanistan are mainly used to finalize the withdrawal of the United States and the resettlement of Afghan refugees.

“It will not go to the Taliban,” she said.

And while many Republicans support Paul’s movement, they don’t voice it.

A spokesperson for GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell did not respond to a request as to whether he had spoken to Paul about lifting his hold on funding. And Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Politico last month that if Paul’s grip was not lifted, they would only have to use the legislative process. “There are probably over 90 votes for this,” he said at the time.

The most likely outcome? Iron Dome funding is stuck in a larger year-end omnibus spending bill that will ultimately be passed in late December.

Paul did not indicate that he would go this far to oppose this process and risk shutting down the government for funding. Israel’s Iron Dome defense system protects its people from more than 90 percent of rockets launched by Hamas, according to one estimate.

Soifer’s central argument is that the continued role of the United States in this defense should have been accelerated sooner. © 2021 McClatchy Washington Office.

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