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A House committee has shot down a bid to pull a provision from the annual defense bill that would deeply integrate the US and Israeli militaries.

Getting into it: The amendment, introduced by Democratic Representative Ro Khanna to strip what’s known as Section 224 from the National Defense Authorization Act, failed in a voice vote Thursday in the House Armed Services Committee, with only Representative Sarah Jacobs joining him, clearing the way for the provision to advance to the House floor. Section 224 would require the Secretary of Defense to designate an “executive agent responsible for synchronizing cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel,” overseeing joint defense-technology research, development, integration, and industrial cooperation, along with co-production partnerships, joint training, and information-sharing.

Khanna framed the fight as a matter of American sovereignty, arguing the provision rewards Netanyahu at a moment when even Trump is reportedly furious at the Israeli leader over Lebanon. “The American people are tired of the arrogance and insolence of Prime Minister Netanyahu telling America what we should do,” Khanna said, adding that “the entire country of Israel has a GDP that is less than a single town in my district.” He said any decision to arm or aid Israel “should be a vote for the entire Congress.”

Jacobs argued the US wouldn’t move to permanently deepen military ties with any other country “credibly accused” of repeatedly violating international law and killing tens of thousands of civilians, while Palestinian rights advocates went further, casting the provision as an unfathomable reward to a government they accuse of genocide.

Supporters from both parties dismissed the sovereignty concerns and described it as a practical streamlining of existing programs. Committee Chairman Mike Rogers called “claims that this provision somehow cedes authority to a foreign government” simply “ridiculous,” while ranking Democrat Adam Smith said he was “very sympathetic” to Khanna’s frustrations and didn’t “like” Netanyahu’s leadership, but insisted, “This is to our benefit,” pointing to combat-tested Israeli technologies the US has drawn on.

The vote also lands amid a broader push by Netanyahu to reframe US assistance, with the prime minister writing in a letter to a Republican congressman that “the time has now arrived for us to move from aid recipient to partner.”