Durbin: Senate Dems Still Debating Conditioning Israel Aid

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated that Senate Democrats are still debating whether they’ll support conditioning aid to Israel.

Host Andrea Mitchell asked, “Let me switch to what’s happening on the border negotiations, which could become a poison pill for both Ukraine and Israel aid. You, along with the majority of your Senate Democratic [colleagues] are calling on the White House to better explain how Israel is also using taxpayer money, some conditionality. What’s the progress on either of those issues?”

Durbin responded, “The conversation is underway. But there’s been no agreement on language or the process at this point. But I would just say, this week, that, among my Democratic colleagues in the Senate, they have said, unequivocally, we support Israel’s right to exist. we support their right to defend themselves. We believe what happened on October 7 — and I saw the videotape yesterday — what happened October 7 was an atrocity. But we ask that Israel and any military action be sensitive to the collateral damage of innocent individuals. I think that has been the message consistently this week. It’s the same message I bring when it comes to protecting the hospitals moving forward. But we have not reached any agreement as to any conditionality.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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