On 13 December 2023, following discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, US President Joe Biden rejected congressional calls to stop or condition US military assistance to the Jewish state.
“We’re not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel in the process. Not a single thing,” he said at the time.
A month earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris said the United States “(was) not going to create any conditions on the support (it) was giving Israel to defend itself.”
Facing increasing pressure from his own Democratic party, however, Biden issued an executive memorandum on 9 February requiring any recipient of US military assistance to submit written assurances it will comply with human rights laws or lose US assistance.
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