I was delighted to be able to host Congressman Ro Khanna on The Debrief today. We covered a lot of ground, including the following topics:
Unprecedented US-Israel defense integration in the NDAA: Rep. Khanna explained why he and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie have led the charge against Section 219 (224). He railed against both the Republican-led Rules Committee from blocking consideration of their amendment to strip this provision from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for unwillingness to block it in the Senate. Khanna was highly pessimistic about the possibility of blocking the provision from becoming law. (Please see additional commentary from me on the path forward below.)
Aid and weapons sales to Israel: Rep. Khanna explained his strong opposition to a potential new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Trump administration and the Netanyahu government on US aid to Israel — and stated what a future Democratic president should do with such an MOU if it is signed. We also drilled down beyond the Block the Bombs Act (which he cosponsors) on Khanna’s positioning on US arms sales to Israel.
AIPAC: When I posed a question from a former longtime AIPAC staffer who follows The Debrief about Khanna’s strident criticism of AIPAC, Khanna explained his opposition to AIPAC’s policy agenda and tactics. He also noted that he remains willing to speak with the group despite its frequent attacks against him. He opposes attacks against AIPAC that characterize the organization as un-American. (The latter is an important point that I often make, as well.) Khanna also explained his preference for J Street’s policy agenda.
Shifting US politics on Israel-Palestine — and Khanna’s role: Khanna spoke about his winning record in political endorsements this cycle and spoke about willingness to speak truth about genocide in Gaza as a sign of courage and an indication that a candidate will be willing to take on daunting political challenges required in order to fix America’s broken political and economic system.
Israel-Palestine in the 2028 presidential race: Khanna gave his view on how the 2028 Democratic presidential nominee should position themself on I-P. His answer to this question sounds to my ears like an early draft of a 2028 stump speech. Just sayin’!
Additional commentary about the NDAA provision in the first bullet point: I don’t doubt Khanna’s assessment that it will be hard to defeat this provision. But there are still opportunities to try. Senator Chris Van Hollen and Senator Peter Welch have both filed amendments regarding the analogous provision in the Senate’s version of the NDAA (Section 1217). Van Hollen’s amendments would strip the section altogether. Welch’s would only allow the provision to take effect only if the Secretary of Defense certifies that Israel’s military and security forces have not “engaged in wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure, crimes against humanity, or ethnic cleansing in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, or any other geographic area that came under the administration of the Government of Israel after June 5, 1967” during the three years prior to the bill’s adoption. If you haven’t seen it already, definitely check out my podcast with Josh Paul of A New Policy, which goes into depth about this NDAA provision. His organization is spearheading efforts against Section 1217.
I would love to hear what you think of my conversation with Congressman Khanna! As always, I’ll be reading your comments (and responding to as many as I can). Please share this post widely!
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Coming Up Next!
Mark your calendars! Scheduling for additional podcasts is in progress.
Tuesday, July 7, at 11am Eastern ← ← please note new date/time
I’m thrilled to speak with Ami Fields-Meyer about his just-published and extremely timely book On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. If you’re an MS NOW fan, you may have seen Rachel Maddow raving about the book this week, so much so that she’s going to record the audio version. Ami and his co-author Julia Angwin draw lessons from individual dissidents and opposition organizations around the world — including some from Israel-Palestine that have been featured on The Debrief! Be sure to join us.
Thursday, July 16, at 12:30pm Eastern
For quite some time, I’ve been wanting to do a podcast on the future of the US rabbinate. The Atra Center for Rabbinic Innovation released a study in late 2025 that included some findings that surprised me — and made me want to learn more. Among them were the demographics of current rabbinical students, only 30% of whom identify as men, while 58% identify as women and 12% as nonbinary. Further, 51% identify as LGBTQ, a huge jump from 15% among rabbis ordained 10-20 years ago. Last but not least, 16% of rabbinical students converted to Judaism and 12% identify as a race other than white.
To discuss that and what implications it might have, as well as the hot topic of where the next generation of American rabbis stands on Israel-Palestine, I’m delighted to welcome Rabbi Amelia Wolf of Congregation Etz Hayim in Arlington, Virginia and Rabbi Andy Kahn of the American Council for Judaism to The Debrief.
Wishing fellow Americans a meaningful July 4th!
250 years down. Let’s commit to working together to create a United States of America that’s worthy of our children, grandchildren, and successive generations — a multiracial/ethnic/religious democracy in which everyone is able to thrive.
All the best,
Debra
