Democratic leader stops short of backing Senate effort to restrict expanded US-Israel defense cooperation. By Vered Weiss, World Israel News House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for sweeping changes to US policy toward Israel and the Palestinians, including a reassessment of military assistance agreements, while declining to endorse a Senate proposal to remove provisions expanding American defense and intelligence cooperation with Israel. Speaking at a Washington news conference, Jeffries said Washington’s current approach to the Middle East was no longer sustainable and required substantial changes. His comments came in response to a question about legislation proposed by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen and 11 other senators seeking to eliminate provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would strengthen security cooperation between Washington and Jerusalem. “I haven’t had a conversation with Senator Van Hollen, but what I have said is that things have to dramatically change over in the Middle East,” Jeffries said. Although he did not support the senators’ proposal outright, Jeffries indicated that the existing framework governing US military assistance to Israel, including the Memorandum of Understanding, should be reconsidered. He did not explicitly advocate terminating American military aid or removing the contested provisions from the defense legislation. Jeffries also reaffirmed his support for a two-state solution, calling for Israel to remain a secure Jewish and democratic state alongside an independent Palestinian state. His proposed policy changes extend to Gaza and Judea and Samaria, where he called for legislative measures addressing violence. The discussion also included casualty figures published by Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and terrorists in its reported death toll. Jeffries said decisions about future US policy should emerge through consultations involving members of the House Democratic Caucus rather than unilateral positions on individual legislative proposals. “We’ll work as a caucus to make sure that we can bring about the just and lasting peace that Israelis and Palestinians deserve over in the Middle East,” he said. The Democratic leader’s remarks left open whether House Democrats would support the Senate initiative targeting provisions on US-Israel military and intelligence cooperation, as well as what specific changes they might pursue regarding future military assistance. The post Hakeem Jeffries calls for major overhaul of US policy toward Israel, including military aid appeared first on World Israel News.