H.R.7018 - Stand with Israel Act of 2026
H.R. 7018 was introduced on January 12, 2025 by Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY-17). It is currently pending before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and has 1 co-sponsor on a bipartisan basis.
Bill Summary: H.R. 7018 seeks to amend the Department of State Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1984 and 1985. Specifically, it amends the second sentence of section 115(b), which stipulates that if Israel is suspended or expelled from any United Nations specialized agency then the United States would suspend its own participation and contributions to said agency. The bill broadens this prohibition by stating that “no funds made available to the Department of State or any other Federal department or agency may be made available for any contribution, grant, or other payment, voluntary or assessed, to such organ or agency until the illegal action is reversed.”
Context: H.R. 7018, the Stand with Israel Act of 2025, seeks to codify and expand existing restrictions on U.S. funding to the United Nations and its specialized agencies when Israel is subject to an alleged illegal expulsion or suspension. While current law conditions certain U.S. funding on circumstances in which U.S. participation in the United Nations is suspended, H.R. 7018 removes that limitation and instead prohibits all U.S. funding, across all federal departments and agencies, until the alleged illegal action against Israel is reversed.
The bill extends a unique diplomatic protection to Israel that is not afforded to any other U.S. partner or ally. It establishes no exceptions, waiver authority, or limiting standards, even in circumstances where United Nations actions are tied to alleged violations of international law or human rights obligations. In practice, this framework risks transforming international efforts to hold Israel accountable, regardless of legal merit, into an effectively automatic trigger for U.S. withdrawal of funding and participation in multilateral institutions. As international bodies and human rights organizations pursue investigations into alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza, H.R. 7018 signals that the United States would penalize any international institution that takes adverse action against the Israeli government, even where such actions are grounded in established international legal processes.
American Values Analysis: In the aftermath of the Second World War, Eleanor Roosevelt, reflecting on the deaths of tens of millions, the horrors of the Holocaust, and the international community’s failure to protect the Jewish community, argued that lasting peace required collective action. She stated, “The United Nations is our greatest hope for future peace. Alone we cannot keep the peace of the world, but in cooperation with others we have to achieve this much longed-for security.” H.R. 7018 stands in tension with this core American value of multilateral cooperation grounded in international law. By creating a diplomatic shield that conditions U.S. participation in the United Nations on the treatment of a single state, particularly in the aftermath of the horrors in Gaza, the bill risks delegitimizing the United Nations and American values.
American Interest Analysis: Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his 1953 State of the Union address, described the United Nations as “a place where the nations of the world can, if they have the will, take collective action for peace and justice where the guilt can be squarely assigned to those who fail to take all necessary steps to keep the peace.” He concluded that the United Nations “deserves our continued firm support.” H.R. 7018 departs from this strategic vision, and the lessons of those who lived through a global war, by signaling that international accountability mechanisms may be applied to all states except Israel. By effectively carving out a politically motivated exemption, the bill weakens U.S. credibility and influence within the United Nations while inviting rival powers, particularly China and other U.S. adversaries, to fill the diplomatic vacuum.
A New Policy’s Recommendation: OPPOSE
A New Policy opposes H.R. 7018 as it broadens the Israel exemption created in the Department of State Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1984 and 1985. The bill’s timing signals that even if irrefutable evidence is found that Israel committed war crimes or crimes against humanity in Gaza or in the future that the United States will take punitive action to protect Israel regardless of established international legal processes.
For more information please contact: Josh Paul, (202) 770-0055, info@anewpolicy.org
