Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s record
Click here to see the record of Senator Adam Schiff and Senator Alex Padilla
We are disappointed to report that Congressional Representative Jimmy Panetta has regularly voted for unconditional funding and support for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and current Israeli policies.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta has:
- Supported continued Israeli military action in Gaza at a time when even retired Israeli generals were calling on Trump to end U.S. support for the war.
- Regularly voted for unconditional military aid to Israel, and refused to co-sponsor the “Block the Bombs Act.”
- Voted to ban US funding for UN humanitarian aid in April, 2024 and January 2026 and refused to co-sponsor HR 473 in September 2025, which called for restoring this funding at a time of widespread misery and famine in Gaza.
- Voted with Republicans to shield Netanyahu and Israel from facing international justice.
- Voted with Republicans to enable the Trump administration to stifle nonviolent domestic dissent against U.S. support for Israel’s military.
Details
1. Supported Ongoing Israeli Military Action in Gaza
· Panetta announced on Aug 15, 2025—more than twenty months into what by then was an internationally-recognized genocide in Gaza—that he and other military veteran members of Congress wrote to the Israeli ambassador, supporting Israel “continuing its efforts to defeat Hamas.”
· Panetta’s belief that Israel’s military action against Hamas should continue in August 2025 ran counter to the views of 92% of Democratic voters who did not support Israel’s military action in Gaza. It was also at odds with 600 former Israeli military and intelligence chiefs who wrote a letter to Donald Trump on August 4 , 2025, imploring him to stop U.S. funding for the war. Signatories included five former heads of Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security), and three former chiefs of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces. The letter read, “Stop the Gaza War! …Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat”.
July 2025: 8% of Democrats supported Israel’s military action in Gaza
2. Regularly voted for Unconditional Military Aid to Israel, and refused to cosponsor the “Block the Bombs Act”
· In April 2024 Rep. Panetta voted for $17 billion in military aid to Israel at a point when Israel was withholding humanitarian aid from Gaza. This funding did not follow U.S. law, which bars military aid to nations that violate human rights by withholding aid.
· In May, 2024, President Biden paused the delivery of bombs to Israel in an effort to stop Israel from attacking Rafah, where one million Palestinian civilians were taking shelter from the violence. Yet Rep. Panetta signed a letter to the White House stating, “We are deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel.”
· In January 2026, Rep. Panetta refused to co-sponsor Block the Bombs H.R.3565, to provide for a limitation limits on the transfer of defense articles and defense services to Israel. This bill has 63 cosponsors in Congress. (This was despite the fact that in July 2025, Senator Bernie Sanders and a majority of Democratic senators voted to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel by supporting the Senate version of “Block the Bombs.”) This bill has 63 co-sponsors in Congress.
On January 14, 2026, Rep. Panetta voted for the 2026 Defense Budget which included additional military aid to Israel, along with banning funding to UNRWA, the United Nations organization providing humanitarian relief in Gaza and banning funding for the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice. Democrats who voted no on the January 14 bill include Jewish members of Congress Becca Balint (V), Steve Cohen (Tn), Daniel Goldman (NY), Laura Friedman (Ca), Sara Jacobs (CA) Jamie Raskin (MD).
Rep. Panetta, when pressed about his support for Israel during the Gaza genocide, has claimed that since October 2023 he has voted against military aid to Israel on five occasions. In fact, those five votes were on large omni-bills in which the vast majority of Democrats voted No, in order to thwart Republican initiatives on other issues added to the bills. Rep Panetta voted “yes” on all of the final congressional votes in favor of military aid to Israel.
3. Voted to Stop US Funds for UN Humanitarian Aid
· In March 2024, Rep. Panetta voted to stop US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the foremost relief agency operating in Gaza. At that time Senator Chris Van Hollen said, “Denying funding for UNRWA is tantamount to denying food to starving people and restricting medical supplies to injured civilians… To punish over 2 million innocent people in Gaza and UNRWA beneficiaries throughout the region for these actions is not just misguided—it’s unconscionable.”
· As background, in January 2024, sixteen countries suspended their contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that some UNRWA employees were involved in the attacks of October 7, 2023. A UN investigation found 9 staff members (out of 13,000 in Gaza) “may have been involved” in the October 7th attacks. All countries have since resumed their contributions to UNWRA, except the United States.
· In January 2025,Israel banned UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank. In March, Israel cut off food and medical aid to Gaza and cut off electricity for water plants. UNRWA is the agency with the human resources to end famine and provide urgently needed medical care. Panetta has declined to support the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act.
· In August 2025, at a time of extreme famine and suffering in Gaza, Rep. Panetta declined to co-sponsor H. Res. 473 calling for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. Central Coast Advocates for Peace in the Middle East sent a letter to Rep. Panetta, signed by 125 local community leaders, calling for his support for HR 473. Despite repeated appeals to Panetta’s office including an in-person visit, he continued to refuse to co-sponsor the resolution. His stated reason was that it did not include a condemnation of Hamas — which was not needed in a humanitarian resolution, and which should never get in the way of the moral requirement to feed starving civilians.
· Standing up for humanitarian aid is crucial after the ceasefire of Jan 2026. Israel has banned 37 humanitarian aid groups from Gaza and the West Bank, including Doctors Without Borders, American Friends Service Committee, and OXFAM. Yet on January 14, 2026 Panetta (and most other elected congressional Democrats) voted to ban US funding for UNRWA
4. Voted to Undermine International Courts
· In the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, the United Nations established institutions to hold nations and leaders accountable for crimes against humanity. Among them were the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
· On January 23, 2024, Rep. Panetta joined Republicans in signing a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “express our disgust” with South Africa’s filing of a “grossly unfounded case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.”
· In May 2024, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court presented evidence to the Court of crimes against humanity, seeking arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders. In response, Panetta voted with House Republicans on a resolution to sanction International Criminal Court officials, dismissing the court’s charges as “illegitimate and baseless”. The evidence presented by South Africa and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was consistent with evidence by Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, and a UN report labeling Israeli and Hamas actions as “crimes against humanity.”
5) Supported Stifling Nonviolent Domestic Dissent against U.S. support for Israel’s military
- In 2017, Panetta co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which would have made it a crime punishable by a prison term to support a boycott of Israel or companies doing business with Israel.
- In November 2024, Panetta was one of
justonly 15 House Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass HR9495, which would have given the Trump administration the authority to remove the nonprofit status of organizations without due process. This bill was opposed by 354 civil rights groups, including ACLU and NAACP. Democrats in the Senate killed the measure.
After focused lobbying by our group and others, we commend Rep. Panetta for recently co-sponsoring the “West Bank Violence Prevention Act” on March 27, 2026. This bill was introduced a year ago, in April 2025. By the time Rep. Panetta cosponsored the bill, it had 125 cosponsors. We will report any future actions by Rep. Panetta in support of Palestinian lives and rights when they occur.