Congress needed to pass aid for Israel ‘yesterday,’ official says

Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer stressed the urgency of passing congressional aid to Israel in an interview released Tuesday.

“I think we need the aid yesterday,” Dermer said in an interview with Punchbowl News.

Dermer, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2013 to 2021, said Israel faces enemies on multiple fronts — not just as it conducts its war in Gaza against Hamas.

“Because it’s very important, as we’re [also doing] our planning. Remember, we’re not just dealing with one front,” he said. “We’re dealing not just with Hamas in the south, we’re dealing with Hezbollah in the north.”

“The Houthis are continuing firing. We have Shia militias in Iraq,” he continued. “We have a lot of different forces that are fighting us.”

The interview comes more than four months after President Biden sent his most recent supplemental security funding request to Congress, including aid for Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific region.

The Senate recently passed a $95 billion emergency defense spending bill, including $60 billion for Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russia, and $14 billion in security assistance for Israel. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), however, has refused to take up the bill in the House.

There have been separate efforts to pass Israel funding in the House, including a $14 billion package that paired Israel aid with cuts to the IRS funding, which was dead on arrival in the Senate.

A second effort, a standalone Israel bill, failed to get support in the House, after facing opposition from members of both parties. Biden also pledged to veto any foreign aid package that did not include funding for Ukraine.

Dermer told Punchbowl his push for aid to Israel wasn’t meant to downplay the need for additional funds to Ukraine amid its war with Russia — which recently hit two years.

“The sooner we get that aid, the better the situation will be,” he said. “And I don’t want to compare Israel to Ukraine. And the urgency of their needs versus the urgency of our needs. But I can just tell you, we’re very eager.”

Dermer, who helps manage the Israeli government’s relationship with the Biden administration, said they had hoped Congress would pass aid for Israel last year, Punchbowl News reported.

“It’s very hard for me to see exactly how this is going to wind its way through the system. I’m confident that ultimately it will happen,” he said. “And I think because ultimately it will happen, I think, pretty much the sooner the better.”