By J.M. Straw
June 15, 2026

June 14 – In the face of widespread and growing popular opposition to Israel’s atrocities, Congress is proposing two bills that would give Israel unprecedented powers and access to U.S. military expenditures and intelligence resources far surpassing current levels, which are already high.

According to an article in Responsible Statecraft, the magazine of the Quincy Institute think tank, a buried section, 224, in the House’s 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) “would all but fuse the two countries’ armed forces together.” (“Congress quietly moves to integrate U.S. and Israeli militaries,” May 29)

Section 224, titled “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” would involve “bilateral research and development, coproduction of weapons, joint ventures, and licensing agreements.” Section 224 enables cooperation on types of military technology far beyond the current allocations for missiles, seemingly without limit, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber weapons, biological weapons and more.

(Quantum Autonomous Systems are intended to replace AI logic with Quantum Machine Learning (QML) and quantum sensing to enable non-human real time decision-making in complex environments –– often associated with drones and laser equipped drones –– which allows targeting based on energy sensing without visual confirmation by humans.)

Pentagon could hide funding from Congress

Section 224 would permanently give the Pentagon jurisdiction over funding to Israel, meaning that military information may be legally withheld from Congressional oversight or public scrutiny. It would render periodic spending bills unnecessary and allow members of Congress to wash their hands of accountability on future votes for military funding going to Israel.

Anti-War coalitions based in the U.S. will fight to prevent Section 224 from passing and will continue to fight against U.S. imperialism being partnered with Israel in any form. The funding may be hidden, but U.S. and Israeli war crimes can never be hidden. Opposition at home and abroad is certain to grow.

Yet another measure buried deep in another intelligence authorization bill (“United States-Israel Intelligence Sharing Enhancement.”) is Section 622. This measure would require the president, via the director of national intelligence and secretary of defense, to “expand and enhance intelligence sharing with the Government of Israel.”

Any exceptions to this section would require an onerous process to obtain permission from Congress. This bill would even further remove from visibility the plans and tactics of the U.S.-Israel alliance. Moreover, it would impact not only U.S. intelligence agencies that act internationally, but also U.S. domestic intelligence and law-enforcement agencies.

Joint training programs between U.S. law enforcement agencies, the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) and Israeli police have existed for two decades. These exchanges of intelligence and methods of operation equip U.S. police with tactics and devices used in mass surveillance, crowd control and protest suppression. Thousands of U.S. officers, border patrol agents and federal officials have participated in these exchanges.

High-ranking officials, SWAT teams and police chiefs from major U.S. cities, such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., have attended these training sessions and have refused to document what they learned or who they met with.

Do it like Durham

Some cities have fought back. Antiwar activists in Durham, North Carolina, achieved a local ban prohibiting their police departments from participating in military training exchanges with Israel.

Nevertheless, more recently, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have been employed to arrest or deport pro-Palestine activists. If these bills pass, they will allow unprecedented power to Israel to continue imperialist expansion. They could exert even greater influence over repressive forces that seek to contain resistance to imperialism at home and abroad. No date has been set for a vote, which is likely to take place before Congress’s July recess.