Former speaker’s support for measure underlines growing demand among mainstream Democrats for a fresh look at military aid to Israel amid the Gaza war

Several dozen Democratic members of Congress, including former speaker Nancy Pelosi, have sent a letter to US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for a halt on arms transfers to Israel following an IDF strike in Gaza that killed seven staffers of the World Central Kitchen, including a dual US citizen.

“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 House representatives 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,” they said.

Noting that Israel has said it did not intentionally target the aid workers, the Congress members said that “if this is true, it is a shockingly unacceptable mistake.” They also called for the administration “to conduct a thorough investigation into this airstrike,” which the White House reiterated Friday it will not do.

Most of the signatories were from the Democrat’s left flank but the backing by Pelosi indicated support for stopping weapons deliveries to Israel is increasingly becoming mainstream among Democrats.

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