Israel Funding Fails in Senate, Cruz Says Democrats Holding 'Israel Hostage'

The House of Representatives Israel aid bill has been officially blocked after it failed to pass in the U.S.  Senate. Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) discussed the bill and its lack of support from Senate Democrats.

In an exclusive interview with Texas Politics, Sen. Cruz accused the Democrats of focusing on their political party instead of the issues at hand. Some of his statements were directed at New York Senator Chuck Schumer (D) who is Jewish.

Sen. Schumer has supported Israel as they fight against the terrorist organization Hamas and even attended a pro-Israel rally this week in Washington, but he did not express clear support for the House's bill.

“Democrats are hard partisans, and Schumer values having 87,000 new IRS agents to persecute his political enemies more than he cares about stepping up for Israel," said Sen. Cruz.

"And, part of it is Schumer and the Democrats believe corporate media will cover for them—that they will not be held to account—but every single Democrat, right now, was the deciding vote against providing emergency military aid to Israel, tonight.”

The Israel aid bill passed the House with mostly GOP support. However, it did receive some support from House Democrats. Nevertheless, that was not the case with the Senate.

“So, every Democrat has chosen to hold Israel hostage because of their priorities, their partisan priorities on other matters. I think that is cynical and wrong.”

Much of the issue surrounding the bill lies with a lack of funding for Ukraine. Ukraine has been facing attacks by Vladimir Putin's Russian forces for some time, and many in Congress have expressed support for the country.

However, those in Congress are split on how the bills should be pushed forward. Many Republicans desire separate funding bills for each country, and many Democrats think multiple issues such as Ukraine and funding to counter China's influence in the Indo-Pacific should fit into the Israel aid bill.