Giving unrestricted U.S. military aid to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is like one parent telling a teenager they’re grounded while the other parent slips them the car keys.

President Joe Biden has stated many times that Israel must be more careful to protect civilians when they bomb Gaza. Meanwhile, our country continues to send billions in unconditional military aid, even slipping more than a hundred “secret shipments” to Netanyahu’s government. Six months in, Biden persists in bypassing Congress, pursuing an illegal war only Congress can declare.

This administration is grievously complicit in the more than 30,000 deaths in Gaza and the suffering on both sides. Israel is right to defend itself after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 but Netanyahu’s government is thoroughly flawed to have carried it to this extreme.

I’m grateful that our Rep. Becca Balint has called for “an immediate cease-fire”; it is the only way for critical food and medical aid to enter the killing zone in the quantities needed and for the possibility to advance peace negotiations. I’m also grateful that she’s called for restoration of U.S. funding for the U.N. Refugee and Works Agency, “robust aid to Gaza, [and] the release of all hostages.”

Balint needs to now help secure that cease-fire by declaring that any further U.S. money for Israel’s military will receive her “no” vote if a cease-fire is not in place. She can reinforce this by calling for regional de-escalation, including the end to Biden’s illegal airstrikes on Yemen.

MaryDiane Baker

Action Corps VT organizer, Brattleboro, Vt.