Last month, we visited elected and military leaders in the Middle East and Ukraine, two seemingly unrelated regions linked by a similar threat: a malign and destructive force that gravely endangers national security as well as regional stability.
Last month, we visited elected and military leaders in the Middle East and Ukraine, two seemingly unrelated regions linked by a similar threat: a malign and destructive force that gravely endangers national security as well as regional stability.
In both regions, U.S. commitment and engagement are indispensable to preserving democracies and ending lethal armed conflict. In both, failing to do so will have decadeslong destructive consequences—not just for Washington’s standing around the globe, but also for U.S. interests and even American lives in these regions.
During our meetings, heads of government, military commanders, humanitarian agencies, and our own diplomats and soldiers in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Oman, and Ukraine all delivered dire warnings. Innocent civilians in Gaza have no place left to run, no food to eat. Ukrainian troops are rationing ammunition on the front lines and losing territory to the Russians.
We witnessed this in Lebanon, where we saw burned shops and barricades from when an angry mob tried to storm our embassy and were held back by the Lebanese Armed Forces, who have benefited from years of U.S. training and support. In Jordan, we met with the American and Jordanian military leaders who were the first on the ground to respond to the terrible attack on Tower 22 that cost three U.S. soldiers their lives.
In Ukraine, as in the Middle East, the United States remains an essential partner. Ukrainian troops are dying and losing ground because they lack the basic equipment they need to continue their fight.
A global coalition of more than 50 nations has already contributed more to the Ukrainian war effort than the United States, often at much higher percentages of their respective defense budgets or GDP. The European Union remains committed to Ukraine’s fight, recently passing a $54 billion aid deal for Ukraine. It is with U.S. military support, however, that Ukraine can not only fight back, but can win. Without it, Ukraine is much more likely to fail—and sooner than many may think. Once Ukraine falls, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s next attack will likely be against a NATO ally, compelling us to come to their defense and inevitably putting our own troops on the front lines.
Our troops may be equally at risk if the situation in Gaza worsens and conflict spreads throughout the region. In our conversations in Jordan and Lebanon, we heard how explosive just one miscalculation could be. Along the border between Israel and Lebanon, we heard about the tens of thousands of innocent people who have been displaced by attacks on both sides. In Jordan, we saw how cheap but deadly drones are effectively defying the advanced systems meant to counter them.
Iranian proxies—such as the Yemen-based Houthis, Lebanon-based Hezbollah, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq—are seeking to capitalize on the growing anti-Americanism and achieve Iran’s long-desired goal of forcing the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the region. Our diplomatic and military personnel are already under attack by these proxies in Iraq—a threat made very real to us by being woken up in Baghdad to the sound of anti-drone ammunition rounds.
We cannot afford to let Iran succeed; otherwise, the United States will face a very real prospect of war. While anti-American rhetoric might sharpen due to increased U.S. involvement in the region, disengagement leaves countries in the region with even fewer options and no choice but to embrace malign influences, such as Iran. We cannot hope to change minds or build relationships if we back away.
Ultimately, preventing a wider war in the Middle East will require delivering a message demonstrating that Washington recognizes Israel’s obligation to defend itself, but also expects that Israel upholds international humanitarian and human rights law and that its military operations meet the highest standards. For example, the national security memorandum that U.S. President Joe Biden released last month, which requires allies receiving military aid to provide assurances to the United States that their actions are compliant with international law, was able to send a strong message to Israel—and the region as a whole.
While we recognize Israel’s right to defend itself, the war to dismantle Hamas must also seek to minimize devastating harm to innocent civilians. To show that it’s serious about protecting civilians and aid workers in Gaza, Israel should open additional border crossings and improve deconfliction mechanisms to increase humanitarian assistance.
Regardless, the United States isn’t waiting to deliver aid. Biden has listened to the large group of senators who have called for the United States to directly deliver urgent, critically needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, by air and sea, much like the Jordanian and French governments have successfully done. The United States has started air dropping ready-to-eat meals from cargo planes and plans to construct a temporary port off the Gazan coast to facilitate an even greater movement of food aid to civilians.
In our meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we warned against a large-scale ground offensive in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza without appropriate evacuation plans and measures in place to mitigate civilian casualties.
The United States is the only nation that has the credibility to send this message to Israel. If Netanyahu fails to listen, the Biden administration and Congress will be prepared to take more persuasive steps to ensure compliance with U.S. policy on civilian protection and humanitarian assistance. However difficult, we need to hold even our closest allies accountable.
We have real hope that a meaningful humanitarian pause in the fighting in Gaza, combined with a hostage release, is within reach. There are still gulfs, but they’re bridgeable—thanks largely to the efforts of the Biden administration to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas, with Qatar and Egypt acting as intermediaries.
A longer humanitarian pause could even reopen the door to greater possibilities for peace in the Middle East through Israel-Saudi normalization and economic integration. Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords as the sixth signatory would be a game-changer in the region, spurring other Arab states to follow its lead. It would strengthen regional security and economic ties against Iran’s malign influence.
Understanding that, Hamas and its backers in Iran carried out its atrocious attack on Oct. 7, 2023, partly to prevent a realignment between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The best way that we can counter Iran and defeat Hamas would be to return to these discussions and find a path forward toward normalization, which will only happen with active partnership by the United States. We were close to an agreement prior to the Oct. 7 attacks; a pause in fighting could get us to conditions where constructive dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Israel can happen again.
At every stop on our trip, we heard that the solution to building greater security and a potential path toward peace is more U.S. engagement, not less. Our colleagues in the House of Representatives who tend toward an uninvolved, isolationist approach need to hear that, and they must help us meet that challenge by promptly passing the national security supplemental.
We can set the Israel-Hamas war on a path to peace by making it clear to the Israelis what we expect from them in the region and taking steps to ensure a real Palestinian future. We can give Ukraine the support it needs to defeat the brutal Russian invasion.
That might seem like a tall order, but none of it comes together without the United States leading the way.
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