Dozens of civil rights and advocacy groups have urged Congress to scrap a defence bill provision that would deepen US-Israeli military technology ties, according to a letter seen by Reuters news agency, at a time of growing US scepticism toward the longtime ally.
In Thursday's letter addressed to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, 56 groups said deeper integration with Israel's defence sector would be "exceptionally dangerous" and urged lawmakers to remove the provision.
The groups include Amnesty International USA and the civil rights network, the National Lawyers Guild, as well as Arab and Jewish advocacy groups.
"At a time in which American interests are increasingly diverging from those of Israel, and American public opinion is turning increasingly against unconditional support for Israel, creating new points of influence for Israel in the US defence-technology ecosystem is exceptionally dangerous," said the letter, which has not been previously reported.
The defence bill provision would deepen cooperation between the US and Israeli defence sectors by accelerating joint military technology development and other partnerships.
The bill passed the House of Representatives in July and awaits Senate action.
The provision of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, known as Section 219, seeks to set up frameworks for joint ventures, licensing agreements and US-based co-production partnerships with the Israeli industry.
'Recipient to partner'
ICC fugitive and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a May interview with CBS that he hoped to wean Israel off US military support within a decade.
In a June letter to a US congressman, he wrote that the time has come for Israel "to move from aid recipient to partner."
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told Reuters that it was not in US national interests to deepen such cooperation with the Netanyahu government.
"This provision ... threatens to compromise sensitive technologies and, based on our prior experience, risks giving the Government of Israel the ability to interfere in US defence decisions," Van Hollen said.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 73,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 174,000 others in its carnage in the blockaded enclave. It reduced most of the enclave to ruins and displaced all of its population.
The letter criticises Israel for its violations of international humanitarian law in its genocide in Gaza and rising settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It says such developments should prevent any discussion of deepening military ties.
Declining public support for Israel
US public support for Israel has fallen since the Gaza genocide began in 2023, particularly among Democrats.
A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48 percent of voters and 66 percent of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16 percent and 20 percent when the question was first asked in 2017.
Support for Israel among Democratic voters has plummeted, candidates critical of Israel are winning Democratic primaries, and even moderate lawmakers are increasingly willing to challenge decades of US support for Israel.
A memorandum of understanding that provides $3.8 billion in annual US military aid to Israel is approaching its expiration date in 2028, and conversations are under way on how Washington's assistance to Israel would evolve beyond that date.
Some members of Congress have already tried to strip the provision from the fiscal 2027 NDAA.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California introduced an amendment to block it, but it did not make it into the House version of the bill.
Once the House and Senate write their versions of the NDAA, members of the two chambers work out a compromise version of the bill, which must pass both chambers — typically near the end of the calendar year — before it can be sent to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.
