Two of President Joe Biden’s top advisers asked US lawmakers to provide billions more dollars to Israel on Tuesday at a congressional hearing interrupted repeatedly by protesters denouncing American officials for backing what they called “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Biden’s request for $106bn to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and US border security.
Arguing that supporting US partners is vital to national security, Biden requested $61.4bn for Ukraine, about half of which would be spent in the United States to replenish weapons stocks drained by previous support for Kyiv.
Biden also asked for $14.3bn for Israel, $9bn for humanitarian relief — including for Israel and Gaza — $13.6bn for US border security, $4bn in military assistance and government financing to counter China’s regional efforts in Asia.
As the hearing began, a line of anti-war protesters raised red-stained hands in the air. Capitol police later removed them from the room after shouted slogans including, “Ceasefire now!” “Protect the children of Gaza!” and “Stop funding genocide.”
Blinken did not respond to the protesters, but when he was asked later about the possibility of a ceasefire, he said that would “simply consolidate what Hamas has been able to do and... potentially repeat what it did another day.” A pause, however, for humanitarian reasons can be considered, he said.
“We do believe that we have to consider things like humanitarian pauses to make sure that assistance can get to those who needed and people can be protected and get out of harm’s way,” Blinken said.
Blinken said Gaza in the future could not be governed by Hamas, but could also not be run by Israel, adding that ideally an “effective and revitalised Palestinian Authority” could ultimately run the strip, while other countries in the region could step in to help under temporary arrangements.