Democrats Elevate Staunch Israel Advocate Jared Moskowitz to Lead Middle East Subcommitte Amid Growing Opposition

House Democrats on Tuesday named Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, elevating a staunch Israel supporter as the party’s base pulls sharply against U.S. aid to the Jewish state.

The announcement from Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the committee’s ranking Democrat, positions Moskowitz to chair the subcommittee if he wins reelection and Democrats retake the House in November, a perch that would let him steer hearings and witnesses on Israel, Gaza and Iran.

Meeks also welcomed three new Democrats to the full committee, including Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Wesley Bell of Missouri, who, like Moskowitz, have been heavily backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Moskowitz succeeds Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., another firm Israel supporter, in the subcommittee slot.

Moskowitz, whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, pledged in a post on X to strengthen U.S. ties with Israel and Gulf allies and to ground American foreign policy in “strength, security, and reality.”

He also thanked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for the assignment in a separate post.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., warned party leaders in a post on X against putting “Israel hawks” in charge of the party’s Middle East policy, calling for a reckoning over corporate influence in Democrat ranks.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the pick “an insult to American voters” and a bid to shield the Israeli government from accountability.

A New York Times/Siena Research Institute national survey released May 18 found 74% of Democrats opposed sending Israel additional economic or military aid.

A Pew Research Center poll conducted March 23-29 showed 80% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents held an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 53% in 2022. The survey included 3,507 U.S. adults with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.

Moskowitz last week fended off a Democratic Socialists of America-backed primary challenger, Oliver Larkin, in his redrawn South Florida district.

Committee Democrats agreed to the arrangement after Sherman ceded the ranking slot.

Jeffries has called for a “major reset” in U.S. policy toward Israel while maintaining his opposition to an across-the-board cutoff of aid.

In a July 14 “Dear Colleague” letter, Jeffries criticized the “far-right” government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and vowed to oppose an amendment from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that would bar funds in the bill from going to Israel and reduce foreign military financing by $3.3 billion.

That amendment failed 104-314, though 103 House Democrats supported it.

Moskowitz drew progressive fire earlier this year when he initially opposed a war powers resolution to constrain President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran before reversing course.