Three top White House advisers and Doug Emhoff, the Jewish husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, led a meeting with the leaders of Jewish groups to allay concerns about the Biden administration’s decisions to hold up certain weapons transfers to Israel in an effort to prevent a ground invasion into Rafah.
The Israeli Defenses Forces began targeted operations last week in Rafah—the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip—to eradicate the remaining strongholds of Hamas terrorists and learn the location of some 130 hostages taken captive during its massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Many of them have been confirmed as dead.
H.R.8034, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024, passed last month, providing Israel with $26.38 billion to support its military needs. However, U.S. President Joe Biden stated earlier this month that certain offensive weapons would be withheld.
Attending the May 13 gathering were Neera Tanden, White House domestic policy adviser; Liz Sherwood-Randall, White House homeland security advisor; and Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser.
“The Orthodox Union is appreciative of the administration’s continued engagement with the Jewish community in the face of rising antisemitism and Israel’s war to defend itself,” Nathan Diament, the Orthodox Union’s executive director for public policy, told JNS. “We urged leadership to weigh the weight of their words when addressing the war and continue to support Israel vocally. References to the war impact attitudes toward Jewish Americans.”
Attendee Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said, “I think everyone agrees that while a lot has been done, there is also so much more to do given the scope of the challenge.”
