Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday compared US aid to “welfare” and said he wants it to end, remarks that came as top Democrats in the US House of Representatives expressed opposition to an amendment that would cut off $3.3 billion in American military assistance to Israel.

“I want to stop American aid,” Netanyahu said during a televised event in Israel on Tuesday, saying he wants the US aid phaseout to begin this year. “We can finance ourselves.”

In recent weeks, amid growing US public backlash against continued military aid to Israel as its military commits atrocities in Gaza and throughout the Middle East, Netanyahu has signaled a desire to “shift the framework” of the US-Israeli relationship “from aid to partnership,” as the prime minister put it in a June 1 letter to US Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.).

“Israel deeply appreciates the financial component of the military aid the United States has generously provided us over the years,” Netanyahu wrote in the letter. “The time has now arrived for us to move from aid recipient to partner.”

Netanyahu’s stated vision aligns with legislative text included in annual US defense policy legislation, which would deepen integration of the American and Israeli militaries. Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee refused to allow a floor vote on an amendment by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) that proposed stripping the integration measure from the bill, which is currently moving through Congress.

But the rules panel is allowing a full House vote on a separate Massie-led amendment that would prevent any US State Department or national security appropriations from being “obligated or expended for Israel” in the coming fiscal year. The amendment would specifically cut off the $3.3 billion in assistance Israel is slated to receive via the Foreign Military Financing Program in 2027.

Massie’s proposal has spotlighted a consequential rift in the House Democratic caucus, even as an overwhelming majority of Democratic voters support ending US aid to the Israeli government.

Prominent progressives—including Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—have said they plan to vote yes on the amendment, which could come to a vote next week.

“It should be a no-brainer: Our tax dollars should not fund a genocide,” Omar, the deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Tuesday. “We cannot continue to be complicit in Israel’s crimes against humanity.”

But top Democrats, including the ranking members of key committees, are opposed to the Massie amendment, which is unlikely to get through the Republican-controlled House. Few Republicans are expected to support Massie’s proposal.

“I don’t want Israel to be without what they need,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Jewish Insider earlier this week, following a closed-door House Democratic caucus meeting.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he is “against” the Massie proposal because it would cut off “all aid for Israel.”

“I don’t think there’s support for it,” Smith added, “but we’ll see.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who is staunchly pro-Israel and a recipient of AIPAC campaign cash, has not publicly taken a position on the Massie amendment.

The Hill reported that the House Democratic leadership told caucus members during Tuesday’s private meeting to “vote according to their conscience” on the amendment, as some members expressed concerns about the proposal’s broad scope and the process by which it is being brought to a vote.

Casar, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, acknowledged earlier this week that—if passed—the amendment “may cut off both military weapons (~$3.3 billion) and some diplomatic funding (~$50 million).”

“While I would prefer to vote on an amendment that stripped just military funding,” Casar wrote on social media, “I think opposing the billions in military funding is what’s most important here.”

Speaking to MS NOW earlier this week, Casar said that “it’s really important for members to recognize that, while a relatively very small amount of diplomatic funding could be implicated on the amendment… virtually all of the money is military financing that the Israeli military has used to buy fighter planes and attack helicopters.”

“You’re going to see a growing number of Democrats come out against sending more money for weapons for Netanyahu’s military,” Casar predicted. “In the past, it was just a very, very small number. You could count on maybe one or two hands how many members of Congress would vote against sending the Israeli military money for more weapons.”

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