Murray, president of the National Immigration forum. Washington journal starts now. Host good morning. It is sunday, march 17, 2024. The first shipment of aid to gaza to arrive by sea in decades landed over the weekend. The latest response to the humanitarian crisis in the region as israel continues its military response to the october 7 hamas attack that killed more than 1200 people. Growing rifts between leadership in washington as a growing Coalition Calls for more conditions on aid to israel amid its ongoing war in gaza which has so far killed more than 30,000 people. This morning, we want to know your thoughts on the u. S. In this conflict. Should the u. S. Cut or condition military aid israel . The number if you think yes is 202 7488000. If now , its 202 7488001. If youre unsure, 202 7488002. If you would like to text us, our number is 202 7488003. Please be sure to include your name and where you are writing in from. If you would like to contact us on social media, that is facebook. Com cspan or on x, cspanwj. One of the ways that rift was revealing itself was a Senate Speech by majority leader chuck schumer. Schumer called for a new election in israel in a scathing speech on netanyahu. He called for the Israeli Government to hold a new election in a speech warning that israel risks becoming an International Pariah under the leadership of Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and his right wing cabinet. Schumer, the highestranking jewish official in the United States and a staunch ally of israel, says he thinks israel should understand better than anybody that they cannot hope to succeed as a pariah. Here is a portion of senator schumers remarks from the senate floor thursday. [video clip] israel is a democracy. Five months into this conflict, it is clear that israelis need to take stock of the situation and ask, must we change course . At this critical juncture, i believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decisionmaking process about the future of israel. At a time when so many israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government. I also believe a majority of the israeli public will recognize the need for change, and i believe that holding a new election, once the war starts to wind down, would give israelis an opportunity to express their vision in the postwar future. Of course, the United States cannot dictate the outcome of an election, nor should we try. That is for the israeli public to decide, a bl believe understands better than anybody that israel cannot hope to succeed as a pariah opposed by the rest of the world. As a democracy, israel has the right to choose let the chips l where they may, but the important thing is israelis are given a choice. There needs to be a fresh bait about the future of israel after their october 7. In my opinion, that is just accomplished by holding an election. Now, if Prime Minister netanyahus Current Coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing u. S. Standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course. Host some of the social media responses to senator schumers speech, this from senater Richard Blumenthal i welco senator schumers insightful comments on new direction policy change in the middle east. Lasting peace and stability is important. Representave Brad Schneider said, although i have this agreement witisraels government, i respect the israeli right to ci for themselves when to call for election andhoto choose as their leader. John fetterman says come at any point, hamas could have ended this burgeoning tragedy to surrender and release every hostage. Now, they are unwilling to provide a list of y surviving hostages. Hamas is an and athena anathema. Ambassador Michael Herzog says israel is a sovereign■ democrar with the genocidal Terror Organization hamas to comment on the democratic ability of our al. And finally, israel decides for itself when elections are held and useits own leaders. America must continue to stan with our ally israel and ensure it has the time and resources it needs to win a war. Hamas bears sole responsibility one more from j street. Majority leader schumer, an unimpeachable he proisrael senator,ght to stand up for u. S. Interests and our ared values. As he says, he speaks for a silent majority of jewish americans. His nuanced views have long been overshadowed by louder voices. Just to get a sense of some of the contributions the u. S. Makes to israel, the u. S. Litary aid to israel, under a 10ear agreement negotiated by then president obama in 2016. Under this agreement, the u. S. Provides about 3. 3 billion in military financingnd about 5 million in missiledefense systems and coordination every year. That is some of the leverage senator schumer was referencing in his speech. If you look at the council on Foreign Relations, which has several charts related to u. S. Aid to israel, you can see israel is the Largest Cumulative recipient of u. S. Aid, especially if you look out total aid from 1946 to 2023, adjusted for inflation. Egypt coming second but quite a distance away. If you come down here, it says u. S. Military aid to israel has been pretty consistent since the 1970s. That is that 3. 6 billion here. If we go up, the United States provided israel significant economic assistance from 1971 to 2007, but nearly all usa today goes to support israels military, the most advanced in the region. The United States provisionally agreed, via memorandum of understanding, to provide israel with nearly 4 billion a year through02e considering billionsf dollars in supplemental funding for israel amid its war with hamas. Lets ■;■sart with your calls. Lets start with christine in florida, who believes, yes, we should indeed cut or condition our military aid to israel. Go ahead. Caller yes, ive been followin. This war, and i feel like israel is committing genocide and should be accused of war crimes. I see no reason why we should give them any more money for weapons. They seem to have enough weapons as it is. They are having no problem killing the palestinians, and they are making no progress in getting rid of hamas. Instead, i believe they are helping hamas get more recruits, because these children that are watching this genocide are going to step up to defend their people. Its the opposite of what they should be doing. Thank you. Host thanks for your call. John mcnally agrees, saying in terms of whether we should cut or condition military aid to isra, s, immediately. Right now, we are complicit with genoci his right wing cronies are destroying israels reputation in the world and dragging our reputation down g with him. Republican senator mitch mcconnell, the Senate Minority leader, pushed back on senator schumers remarks on thursday. Here is an excerp of those comments as well. [video clip] the jewish state of israel deserves an ally that acts like one. The people of israel, at home and in captivity, deserve americas support. And israels unity government and security cabinet deserve the deference fitting a sovereign democratic country. The primary obstacles to peace in israels region are genocidal terrorists like hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad, who slaughter innocent people and corrupt peoples of t, who have repeatedly repeatedly rejected peace deals from multiple Israeli Governments. And foreign observers, who cannot keep these clear distinctions, ought to refrain from weighing in. It is grotesque and hypocritical for americans, who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy, to call for the removal of the democratically elected leader of israel. Host some response coming from within israel, from the party of which Benjamin Netanyahu is chair. It says israel is an independent and proud democ that elected Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, not a banana republic. Prime minister netanyahu leads a termed policy that is ■w public supports aity of the complete victory over hamas, rejects any international dictates tblish a inian terrorist state, and opposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to gaza. That came from the times israel on march 14. A comment on facebook, it says we should not be giving away anything to israel or ukraine, if they want to buy our weapons, that is fi otherwise, they are on their thall bidenslt, and both countries would be at peace today if trump were still in office. If we actually look at some of the u. S. Military aid to israel, it mentions that, here on this council on Foreign Relations article, that transfers on u. S. Military equipment to israel, as to other Foreign Governments, are subject to relevant u. S. Law. Before selling u. S. Weapons systems or services to a foreign power, the president typically must notify congress, allowing lawmakers a period of time to review the sale. Congress can block that sail through a joint resolution. This military aid that we sent to israel, most of the aid, approximately 3. 3 billion a year, is provided under grants through the Foreign Military financing program, funds israel. Military equipment and services. Israel has also historically been permitted to use a portion of its Foreign Military financing a two buy equipment from Israeli Defense grants. That procurement is to be phased out in the next years. U. S. Aid reportedly accounts for some 15 of israels defense , like many other countries, also buys u. S. Military products outside the fmf program. Lets get to your calls. Will says yes, we should cut or condition the aid. Caller good morning k thank you for taking my call. This conflict did not start on october the seventh. This conflict started 75odd years ago, when palestinians were wrongly driven off their land, on which they dwelled for centuries. Illegal settlements are still going on to this day on the west bank. America is finding genocide, and the death toll is going to increase 10 times what it currently is because of starvation and illness. I want to say to joe biden, youve blown this election because of your policy of gaza and israel and your border, your border policy. Youve blown it. Youve handed the presidency to donald trump. And, again, america, youre going to pay for setting pay for putting such a guy, donald trump, in office. Host next up is tony, in north carolina, who believes we should not condition our aid israel. Caller yes. Having served in the marine corps for 20 years, i have done numerous deployments to israel and done work with Israeli Defense forces. It is one of ttrn that area. It is a true democracy there. It is one of our strongest allies in the area. It is also a great port and everything for uss warships and everything to be repaired. I will agree with what will was saying. Biden has not only blown this, but the way he handled afghanistan was a disaster. This is not a war president. He has no idea about this. We need to support israel. If the palestini lay down their weapons, there would be peace. If israel lays down their weapons, they would be eliminated. Thanks. Have a good day. Host thank you. Dan is in santa barbara, california and is unsure. Caller hi. I called on the independent line, although i am what you would consider a liberal. I am a registered democrat. But i do, like a lot of progressive and liberal jews now, feel homeless, because i feel the left has hijacked a big chunk of the liberal party to obsessively hate israel. Ive been following this since october 7, and i wish your hosts would do a little more pushback when far left callers come in and■y make lies about israel, le using the terms genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid state. Especially the word genocide. It is used a lot to the point there are tons of attacks against jewish students around the world. Genocide has to do with intent. It is not the intent of the idf or Israeli Government to wipe out all the postings. If you do the math, it is 1 or 1. 5 of palestinians killed, if you are generous and say all 33,000 who died are civilians, which they arent. It is just kind of crazy right now. They got attacked on october 7. It was a massive mass murder. There were gang rapes. It is hideous what happened. They have a right to fight back. What John Fetterman said is correct. This war would have ended months ago if for two things, one, surrender, two, release the hostages. I do not think any of this has been set at any of the crazy hate rallies. None of the processors are saying this. All they are saying is from the river to the sea and we do not want two states, we want all of it. The left has been hijacked by islamist, socialist, communist host you called in on the unsure line, but i want to clarify, what do you think should happen when it comes to u. S. Military aid to israel . Caller i think, right now, at this juncture in time, we should continue to support them. And if netanyahu or his far right party to get out of control, then we should, you know, talk to them, i guess. But i dont really think all these City Council Meetings ive seen all over the u. S. , they are getting hijacked by these extremists, really have any say. Do you really think netanyahu and the idf would say, dang, chicago and San Francisco say which is stopped, we should pull our troops out . They dont care. Host next up, doug in south dakota, who things we should cut or condition aid. Caller good morning. I got to disagree with this guy you just talked to. I wish you were asking about the settlements and so forth. They plan on taking it all. Biden is still giving them a lot of money, and they are keeping the money down. I hope we would keep at least the arms sales to israel under the money limit, so they do not have to bring it to congress. And actually, biden has got a jewish cabinet. If you go to the jewish library, they will brag how many jewish people they have in bidens cabinet host when it comes to military aid, what do you think of the suggested increase of aid pushih an additional 14 billion in aid to israel . Caller all they will do is kill more kids. I do not dislike israel. It is just what they do. I dislike hamas for killing kids and innocent people. That is wrong. What israel is doing now is wrong could i wish you would ask these people about settlements. They are trying to push people out. They have been screwed all the way since 1948. And they keep talking about hiding within the public. Look up ben gurden one time. He w as hiding within the publc host all right. Lets go to david in ohio, who does not the we should cut or condition military aid to israel. Caller i certainly think we should continue to support israel. We started our support for israel in 1948, 1947, and i think we kind of abandoned them. And the idea they had nomads in that land, which is religious land i think the United States should always support people who are peaceloving. I do not think the palestinians are actually palestinians. I think theyre nomads, and i think, if you want to be an enemy you should have most of the world you should not have most of the world thinking of you as a hate group. Host when you say they are nomadss, are you saying there were not established cities in what is now israel prior to 1948 . Caller i think they were wanderers, islamic wanderers. And since the majority of israel had been dispersed, i think that they just claimed the land that was, at one time, called palestinia. Through the years, i guess, it was diverted ot t to the name palestine. Host there were quite a few established cities in that area prior to 1948. Perhaps we can find a map. Lets look at comments from facebook. Diplomy and conditional cooperation are the key to peace. We should stop funding foreign wars, perpetuating violence and destruction. Maryann price says help palestine, cut israel. Raymond, no, finish the job and wipe hamas off the face of the earth. Have a great day. Martin says, no, we should cut or condition aid to everyone who wants to hurt israel. And we already heard from john mcnally. Lets hear from rashid in florida, who believes we should cut or condition aid to israel. Good morning. Caller good morning. Our taxpayer money should not go to israel to kill thousands and thousands of innocent people. Host ok. Thank you. Diane is in connecticut and is unsure. Why are you unsure . Caller hi. Im unsure because i do not know if israel would be able to make it without being funded by the u. S. But the way i look at it, israel was given to the jews by god in the bible. If people would read the bible, they would know the truth. It is called the Promised Land given to the jews by god. The palestinians were already there, and god told them to kill didnt do it. That is why they continue to have this problem. If they do not need the money, sure, cut it. But if they do need the money, i do not think israel should be cut. Thank you. Host noah is in alabama and says no. Go ahead. Caller yes. I agree with the last caller. It says in the bible there is a curse to those who turn against israel. Will divide the nation thatm divides israel. I believe that. It is a warning from god. Some things are true, whether you believe them or not. I believe judea and sumea, what some people call the west bank, is part of israel, too. Host cyrus is in boston and says yes. Go ahead. Caller thank you. I absolutely believe in conditions to aid. Its always a sound idea. If it were a question of americas best interest, then we are 100 better off being an ally of all the other countries in the region, including palestine, b