12 US Senators seek removal of provisions expanding defense cooperation with Israel

Twelve US senators urged congressional leaders Tuesday to remove three provisions from a compromise defense bill that would expand defense technology cooperation and intelligence sharing with Israel.

“As you prepare to conference the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), we respectfully urge you to exclude three provisions from the final bill that would further entrench concerning aspects of the U.S.-Israel defense and intelligence relationship at a time when the Israeli government’s actions are increasingly undermining U.S. interests and values,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter.

The senators, including Chris Van Hollen, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, argued that the disputed clauses would “constrain the Administration’s ability to independently determine how best to protect U.S. national security” and lock Washington into indefinite commitments despite concerns regarding Israeli military operations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and the wider region.

The letter particularly targets Section 1217 of the Senate Armed Services Committee bill and Section 219 of the House-passed measure, which mandate establishing a “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.” The program would accelerate bilateral co-production, technology transfers and joint research across artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyberwarfare, biotechnology and autonomous systems.

Lawmakers warned that Washington does not routinely share or co-produce technologies in these sensitive warfare domains, even with treaty allies such as NATO members. They emphasized that President Donald Trump already possesses authority under existing statutes to negotiate bilateral accords without a congressional mandate.

The senators stressed that deep integration would hand Israel leverage over American military assets. They pointed to the Israeli government’s prior use of co-production terms on missile defense to block the transfer of American Iron Dome batteries to Ukraine, warning that the initiative would embed Israeli technology into the American defense industrial base and make future policy shifts costly.

The letter also noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly claimed credit for the framework to shift defense ties “from aid to partnership.” The senators cautioned that this strategy seeks to replace transparent Foreign Military Financing channels with opaque defense acquisitions, particularly after Netanyahu boasted about seeking a confrontation with Iran for decades, a war that lawmakers characterized as a “strategic disaster” for American interests.

The coalition also demanded the exclusion of Section 618 from the intelligence authorization title, which mandates expanding intelligence sharing with Israel while prohibiting the executive branch from suspending, reducing or materially limiting that cooperation.

Tying the president’s hands from adjusting intelligence sharing would be “irresponsible,” the lawmakers argued, particularly after public disclosures revealed that the Defense Intelligence Agency recently elevated the counterintelligence threat from Israel to its “highest level.”