Nancy Pelosi Joins Democrats Calling for Biden to Reconsider Military Aid to Israel

Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks during a press conference with members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and civil society groups discussing the implications of the Safeguarding National Security Bill (Article 23 legislation) at the House Triangle near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on March 22, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

A group of 37 Democrat members of Congress, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), is urging the Biden administration to halt the transfer of weapons to Israel following the death of a U.S. citizen in an Israeli airstrike on a food charity convoy.

“We write to express our shared concern and outrage regarding the recent Israeli airstrike which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including an American citizen,” the Democrats wrote in an April 5 letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Among the victims was 33-year-old Jacob Flickinger, a dual citizen of the United States and Canada who was distributing food that had been brought into Gaza through a newly established maritime corridor. During the April 1 attack, all three trucks in his convoy were targeted as they left a warehouse south of Gaza City, killing everyone onboard.

“In light of this incident, we strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed,” the Democrats wrote.

“We also urge you to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate—or arbitrarily denies or restricts the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Two days after the tragedy, Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said in a video statement that the strike “was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers,” but rather was “a mistake that followed a misidentification—at night during a war in very complex conditions” and “shouldn’t have happened.”

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The Israeli military has also thanked World Central Kitchen [WCK] for bringing humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, as well as to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the Hamas terrorist group.

Noting Israel’s insistence that the airstrike was unintentional, the Democrats said that “if this is true, it is a shockingly unacceptable mistake.”

They also asked the Biden administration to conduct a “thorough investigation into this airstrike,” which the White House has said is not going to happen.

Most of the letter’s signatories are from the progressive wing of the congressional Democrats, such as Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Summer Lee (D-Penn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.); but the addition of Ms. Pelosi underlines growing support among mainstream Democrats for placing conditions on military aid to Israel.

A spokesperson for Ms. Pelosi said she endorsed the letter because of her strong support for a “comprehensive, independent” investigation into the tragedy.

“Speaker Pelosi is sympathetic to some of the thoughts in the letter, and she feels very strongly that there must be a comprehensive, independent investigation into the horrific killing of the World Central Kitchen heroes,” Aaron Bennett, a spokesperson for the four-term Democrat House leader, said in a statement.

“Speaker Pelosi knows President Biden’s support for Israel and empathy with the innocent civilians in Gaza, and she respects his judgment in how to proceed.”

President Biden said he was “outraged” by the deaths of the aid workers. In an April 4 call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said the airstrikes were “unacceptable” and warned that U.S. policy with respect to the Gaza conflict will be determined by an “assessment of Israel’s immediate action” on better protecting civilians and humanitarian workers going forward, according to the White House.

In addition, President Biden urged the Israeli leader to work toward a deal that would see both Hamas releasing its remaining hostages and Israel pausing its military campaign in the war-torn enclave.