House GOP Plans to Vote Thursday on Israel Aid Bill – The recently installed Speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, stated on Sunday that he anticipates progress on a funding bill dedicated to supporting Israel this week. This is in contrast to President Joe Biden’s push for a $106 billion aid package that encompasses both Israel and Ukraine.
“We’re going to move a stand-alone Israel funding bill this week in the House,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News, adding that he believes the measure will draw bipartisan support and that Republicans will back a similar measure in the Senate. The US House of Representatives, currently under the control of Republicans with a slim majority, is set to reconvene on Wednesday after a recess.
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“There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address and we will,” Johnson said, without explicitly mentioning the Ukraine conflict. “But right now what’s happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and we’ve got to separate that and get it through.” Biden has urged Congress to authorize $106 billion in additional appropriations.
Most of the funding is intended to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses against Russia, while the rest will be allocated to Israel, the Indo-Pacific region, and immigration enforcement along the US-Mexico border. Johnson has emphasized that elevating support for Israel should be a primary focus of the US national security agenda, particularly following the unexpected attack on October 7 by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip.
This attack resulted in the tragic loss of over 1,400 lives and the abduction of more than 200 individuals. In response, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza and launched a series of airstrikes on the Palestinian coastal enclave, followed by a ground offensive. According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry, this resulted in the tragic loss of more than 7,000 Palestinian lives, including nearly 3,000 children.
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