In response to the introduction of resolutions, led by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Sanders, that would stop the sale of U.S. munitions to Israel while Hamas rockets rained down on Israeli civilians, Mark Mellman, Democratic Majority for Israel president and CEO, issued the following statement:
“Israel faces very real threats, with more than 19,000 rockets fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew all of its soldiers and settlements from the area in 2005. In the past several days alone, more than 4,000 rockets have been fired at Israeli civilians. Limiting Israel’s access to munitions to defend itself while it is under fire, or signaling to Hamas that if they initiate another future conflict, they can manipulate U.S. opinion to prevent Israel from defending itself, is dangerous.
“Equally important, these poorly constructed resolutions will have the surely unintended, but perverse, consequence of more Palestinian and Israeli civilian deaths.
“If Israel is denied access to precision-guided weapons, it will be forced to defend itself using less accurate munitions, resulting in more innocent lives lost and more collateral damage, causing more pain and suffering for everyone. Israel works hard to limit civilian casualties, but that is vastly more difficult without the precision guided munitions that these resolutions would deny to Israel.
“President Biden has adopted the correct approach to this crisis and over 70% of Democrats approve of the way he is dealing with it, according to a Hill-HarrisX poll.”
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