Israel politics trigger Democrats to withdraw support from sexual violence bill

Several House Democrats have withdrawn their support for legislation condemning sexual violence, claiming they were unaware the measure was amended to include controversial language regarding Israel.

But an email obtained by The Hill shows the lawmakers were notified of changes and offered an opportunity to remove their names two weeks before the bill was introduced by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

The intraparty drama lays bare the complicated conversations around sexual violence in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has influenced policy discussions on U.S. support for Israel.

“After circulating the resolution, a few changes were made to the text to incorporate new feedback. An email was sent to all co-sponsoring offices highlighting the changes and they were given two weeks to remove their name prior to introduction,” Michaela Johnson, a spokesperson for Dingell, told The Hill.

Dingell introduced the resolution March 8 with 21 co-sponsors, all Democrats. Since March 19, seven of the bill’s original co-sponsors have removed themselves from the bill.

In the email, dated Feb. 23, Dingell chief of staff Meg Makarewicz noted changes to lines referencing Palestinian women “to better contextualize the historical risks they faced, and how this has been compounded by the conflict in the Middle East.”

The final text of the resolution argues that “high levels of poverty, instability, and deteriorating living conditions in Gaza” as a result of “decades of conflict with Israel” have “increased the risk of violence for Palestinian women and girls.” Those risks, the resolution argues, have been compounded since conflict erupted after Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped another 240 people on Oct. 7.

Lawmakers who withdrew from resolution opposed the inclusion of reported harassment Palestinian women have faced at checkpoints and in custody, as well as back-to-back but unrelated references to Israel’s war on Hamas and a United Nations Population Fund report that found 59 percent of Palestinian women have faced some form of gender-based violence.

A spokesperson for Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), who withdrew his support last Tuesday, told The Hill that the congressman “did not affirmatively consent to remaining on the updated resolution after the language was changed.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said he removed his name because the amended language added “unsubstantiated claims that created a false equivalency between Israel and Hamas.”

“As confirmed by the United Nations, sexual violence has most recently been used in horrific ways by Hamas on October 7 and subsequently on hostages held in their captivity. On the other hand, there have been no confirmed reports of Israel using sexual violence as a weapon of war,” Goldman said in a statement.

Reps. Goldman, Levin, Susan Wild (D-Pa.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) — all original co-sponsors of the resolution — have withdrawn their support since March 19.

The Hill has requested comment from each of the resolution’s former co-sponsors. A spokesperson for Schiff declined to comment on the record.

Dingell’s resolution broadly condemns violence against women as a “global crisis” and states “horrific” acts of rape, sexual violence and gender-based violence are “especially heinous when weaponized during conflicts.”

It also references a report from Physicians for Human Rights Israel that found “systemic and intentional” use of rape by Hamas attackers on Oct. 7, along with other allegations of sexual violence against women used in conflicts in countries including Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar. 

“I stand by my condemnation of sexual violence as a weapon of war around the world and look forward to supporting an accurate resolution addressing this deplorable practice,” Goldman said.

Johnson, Dingell’s spokesperson, told The Hill that the congresswoman “understands the seriousness and strong feelings members have regarding the subject of the resolution.”

Dingell’s own constituents have strong feelings about how the U.S. government is handling Israel’s war on Hamas and the ongoing civilian casualties in Gaza, which have climbed to nearly 32,000 Palestinians killed and 74,000 injured since Oct. 7, according to U.N. estimates.

Voters in Michigan handed President Biden a message in the Democratic primary last month that they were “uncommitted” to his reelection due to his administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. 

More than 101,000 “uncommitted” votes were cast in the Michigan Democratic primary, or around 13 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ. More than 8,000 of uncommitted votes came from Washtenaw County, which is within Dingell’s district, accounting for 17 percent of that county’s votes in the primary.

Reports of the use of sexual violence in the Israel-Hamas war have deepened tensions in conversations among policymakers.

Following U.N. special representative of the Secretary-General Pramila Patten’s official visit to Israel in January, a U.N. report released earlier this month found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Hamas committed rape and sexual violence on Oct. 7 and “clear and convincing information” of sexual violence against hostages, and called for an investigation into allegations of conflict-related sexual violence committed by Hamas during the attack. 

Patten also met with “Palestinian officials and civil society representatives,” according to a readout of the trip, who “raised concerns about cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinians in detention, including various forms of sexual violence in the form of invasive body searches, threats of rape, and prolonged forced nudity, as well as sexual harassment and threats of rape, during house raids and at checkpoints.”

“This information will complement information already verified by other UN entities on allegations of CRSV in Gaza and the occupied West Bank for potential inclusion in the annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence,” the readout says.

The $1.2 trillion government funding signed by President Biden this week provides $3.3 billion in security assistance for Israel and blocks U.S. contributions to the UNRWA, the U.N. agency supporting Palestinians displaced by the war. Israel accused a dozen individuals among the thousands of UNRWA staff members of participating in the Oct. 7 attack.

Each of the lawmakers who removed their support voted for the spending package, as did Dingell and several other co-sponsors. Several members who co-sponsored the sexual violence bill — Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) — voted against the spending bill.

“I am also very concerned that this package continues funding for the Netanyahu government with no conditions, while at the same time prohibiting funding for [UNRWA],” Jayapal said in a statement explaining her “no” vote on the spending bill.

“As the largest contributor of funding to Israel, we should use our funding leverage to demand that humanitarian aid enter Gaza and that we have a lasting ceasefire and a return of all hostages.”

U.N. experts have called on the international community to stop arms exports to Israel, citing the risk that they could be used to violate international humanitarian law.

One of those experts, Reem Alsalem, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, told The Hill that there are “very good reasons to believe that Israel has committed sexual violence [against Palestinians],” pointing to the remarks on Patten’s trip.

Last month, Alsalem and other U.N. experts, who have unequivocally condemned the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, also said they had received reports of Palestinian women and girls being sexually assaulted, including the rape of two Palestinian women in detention.

Allegations of sexual assault and violence against female Palestinian detainees predate the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. An August 2023 report by the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories documented “instances of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment include sexual assaults.”

“The international community needs to send the message that it is very concerned about increased use of sexual violence against women in conflict and needs to end the impunity around it,” Alsalem said.