Key facts
- Democrats won both the Senate and House in the November 3 midterms, Reuters reported.
- Trump told Fox News on November 3 he had agreed with Netanyahu to end annual US security assistance to Israel.
- It was not immediately clear Trump has legal authority to stop the billions in annual military aid, Reuters reported.
- Vance said in a social media post on November 4 that the Iran war was a top election issue for Republicans.
- Senate Democrats voted 46-1 in September for a resolution on Israeli settler violence in the West Bank; Republicans blocked it.
- Trump's veto power means Democrats are unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities needed to override.
Democrats won both the Senate and House in the November 3 midterms, according to Reuters, putting US military aid to Israel under scrutiny after an election shaped partly by voter anger over the Iran war. Many winning candidates were progressives who campaigned against military aid to Israel and against the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Trump said in a Fox News interview on November 3 that he had made a deal with Netanyahu under which Washington would end annual security assistance to Israel. Reuters reported it was not immediately clear that Trump had the legal authority to stop the billions of dollars in military assistance the US sends Israel each year.
Vice President JD Vance said in a social media post on November 4 that the election rout stemmed from the Iran war and identified Israel as an issue for Republicans. He cited a pollster's four actions to bring back disgruntled Trump voters, including ending the war and changing the US relationship with Israel.
Congressional sentiment had already been shifting. In September, 46 of the 47 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted for a resolution to force Trump's administration to report to Congress on increasing violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Republicans blocked the measure, but Reuters described the near-unanimous Democratic vote as a sharp departure from decades of bipartisan backing for Israel.
Democratic power remains limited. Trump promised to be "Mr. Veto," and Democrats are unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities needed to override his vetoes if he refuses to sign their bills. Still, Reuters reported there might be enough resistance to sending US tax dollars abroad, and enough anger over the Iran war, for the America First wing of the Republican Party to also push back.
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who has led attempts to put human rights conditions on Israel aid, said: "We need to make sure that we apply our laws and international law and our policies uniformly across the board when it comes to the actions of countries. There should not be an Israel exception."
Price Floyd, a former US official and senior adviser with Argyll Strategy, a London-based strategic communications firm, said the election result could see "weird bedfellows of left and right come together in condemnation of Israel." William Wechsler, senior director of Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council, said Congress can "make ... a lot of noise," threaten to hold up nominees and create questions about assistance deals.