Newsom Calls for Strings on Israel Aid as 2028 Buzz Grows
“Aid has to be conditioned,” Newsom told a US political news outlet. He pointed to settler violence in the occupied West Bank and to the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which he argued erode hopes for a two-state solution. Earlier in the interview, he said US military aid to Israel “has to be conditioned,” and that the position is gaining ground within his party.
Newsom delivered a sharp rebuke of the Israeli leader. “Bibi Netanyahu has done a remarkable job of really isolating himself from the rest of the world and increasingly from the American people,” he said, adding that “the damage he’s done is incalculable.”
The governor labeled Israel’s war in Gaza a “moral catastrophe.” He stopped short of naming which categories of military assistance should be restricted, noting a distinction between defensive systems such as Iron Dome and offensive weapons.
Newsom said American aid should reinforce human rights principles, including those embedded in the Leahy framework. The 1997 federal rule bars the US government from funding foreign military units tied to “credible information” of gross human rights violations.
Party Support Is Shifting
His comments land as Democratic resistance to arms transfers to Israel builds. A majority of Senate Democrats voted this spring to block a weapons sale, and more than 100 House Democrats opposed a separate measure in July.
Israel is set to hold elections on Oct. 27, a vote Newsom said could shape the debate.
Newsom has criticized Netanyahu in the past while voicing support for Israel. He traveled to the country in 2023 to meet survivors of the Hamas attack. In March, he described his earlier characterization of Israel as an “apartheid state” as a “regret.”
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