WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives has rejected an amendment that sought to remove a provision from the annual defence bill aimed at integrating American and Israeli military forces to an unprecedented degree.
Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced the amendment to strip Section 224 from the bill and drew a sharp contrast between the scale of Israeli and American power.
“The American people are tired of the arrogance and insolence of (Israeli) Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu telling America what we should do,” Khanna said on the House floor on Thursday.
“The entire country of Israel has a GDP that is less than a single town in my district, yet somehow Netanyahu thinks he can tell the American people what we should do.”
“If you think we should do more for Israel, you should be against my amendment,” he said.
The House voted today on a new measure to fuse elements of the Israeli and US militaries, particularly on the cyberweapons front. Section 224, as its known, is included in the National Defense Authorization Act. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced an amendment to strip it from… https://t.co/xWAiZQ03BC pic.twitter.com/rLUViMeKLv
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) June 4, 2026
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers dismissed concerns over foreign influence, saying the “claims that this provision somehow cedes authority to a foreign government are simply ridiculous.”
Ranking Member Adam Smith acknowledged frustrations with Netanyahu while defending the provision.
“I strongly disagree with the notion that this is Congress just bowing to what Netanyahu wants,” Smith said. “This is to our benefit.”
Only Representative Sarah Jacobs (D-CA) joined Khanna in supporting the amendment, which failed in a voice vote.
“If any other country in the world had been credibly accused of violating US and international law again and again, of killing tens of thousands of civilians, of blocking food and medicine from reaching a starving population, we would not be moving to deepen and permanently expand our military ties with them,” Jacobs said ahead of the vote.
The measure, known as Section 224 of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), requires the Secretary of Defense to designate an “executive agent” responsible for synchronising cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel, including bilateral defence technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration and industrial cooperation.
It also calls for joint ventures, licensing agreements and co-production manufacturing partnerships with Israeli industry, as well as joint training exercises and information-sharing mechanisms.
The amendment came as recent polls showed that US public sympathy for Israel has fallen to a historic low following Tel Aviv’s two-year genocide in Gaza.
Israel has killed nearly 73,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 173,000 in Gaza. Analysts say the figures may be an undercount and that the actual death toll could be closer to 200,000.
Israel, which occupies more than half of Gaza and plans to expand its control to 70 percent of the territory, has reduced much of the besieged enclave to rubble and displaced nearly its entire population.
