House Democrats write Biden urging  ‘immediate and significant shift’ of Israeli military strategy

A half dozen national security-focused House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden on Tuesday demanding he double down on efforts to make an “immediate and significant shift” in Israeli military strategy.

The group said the administration’s pressure campaign to temper the Israeli military strategy in Gaza has not been effective, and the lawmakers demanded stronger action using “all our leverage.”

“We are deeply concerned by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s] current military strategy in Gaza. The mounting civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis are unacceptable and not in line with American interests; nor do they advance the cause of security for our ally Israel,” the letter reads.

“We also believe it jeopardizes efforts to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas and secure the release of all hostages,” the lawmakers continued.

The statement was signed by Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). All are members of the House Intelligence, Armed Services or Foreign Affairs committees.

The letter marks a rise in tensions between Biden and Congress over Israel, as support for the Biden administration’s response to the conflict wanes.

Israel has continued a brutal ground offensive into southern Gaza in recent weeks after a brief cease-fire resulted in about half of the hostages held by Hamas being released. As international pressure to return to a cease-fire mounts, the Biden administration has urged the Israeli military to abandon the mass military campaign and scale back to limited operations.

But the Israeli government has shown no signs of heeding that advice. The lawmakers said they have seen “no significant change” in Israeli strategy from U.S. advising.

The military action, alongside reports of torture of Palestinians in Gaza and an increasing humanitarian crisis, have created concerns — including within the Biden administration — that the invasion of Gaza could serve to embolden support for Hamas instead of eliminating the group.

The lawmakers compared the Israeli operation to the failed U.S. “war on terror” in Afghanistan, where a continued American military operation saw the Taliban return to power 20 years after the conflict began.

“We know from personal experience that you can’t destroy a terror ideology with military force alone,” the letter reads. “And it can, in fact, make it worse.”

At least 12,000 Palestinians have died since the outset of the war in October; about 70 percent of them were women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Nearly the entirety of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced from their homes and requires humanitarian aid, the United Nations said.