Bennie Thompson
D · U.S. House, MS-2 · Tier 3/4
Tier 3/4, between “Pro-Israel, critical” and “Critical / conditions aid”
Block the Bombs cosponsor (Aug 2025) who also cosponsors the Ceasefire Compliance Act (Mar 2026) and voted Nay on the April 2024 aid supplemental, but otherwise a mainstream, cautious voice: describes Hamas as terrorists, was reluctant on early ceasefire calls, and as ranking member of Homeland Security frames the debate as diplomacy vs cutting off resources. No genocide or embargo position. In 2025 he signed the letters demanding answers on the detentions of the student activists Mahmoud Khalil (March) and Mohsen Mahdawi (April), the August Pressley–Pettersen letter urging Secretary Rubio to press Israel to allow a surge of aid into Gaza, above all infant formula, and, with most House Democrats, the September letter opposing West Bank annexation. On Sep 24, 2026 Thompson signed a 72-member letter urging Netanyahu to contain settler violence in the West Bank and “halt further settlement approvals.” On Oct 1, 2026 Thompson became an original cosponsor of the Stop the Settlements Act (H.R.10642), which would sanction those who build or expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and ban imports of settlement goods. In June 2026 Thompson signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, led by Reps. Becca Balint and Joaquin Castro, on Israel’s operations in southern Lebanon, saying Israel’s “targeted, mass destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure does not constitute Israeli self-defense” and asking that, if U.S.-origin arms were confirmed in those operations, the administration “stop arms transfers being used in these operations until these violations cease”; the letter also affirmed that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
Contested 3/4. His cosponsorships of Block the Bombs (August 2025) and the Ceasefire Compliance Act (March 2026), two acts toward limiting weapons, plus his Nay on the April 2024 aid supplemental pull toward 4. But his overall posture is distinctly mainstream and pulls toward 3: he calls Hamas terrorists, was reluctant on early ceasefire legislation, characterizes the caucus fight as diplomacy vs cutting off resources rather than staking out a position of his own, and uses no genocide or embargo language. (AJP Action logs him as a non-signatory on the Nov 2023 bilateral-ceasefire letter; he did sign Troy Carter’s Apr 11 2024 bilateral-ceasefire letter, which calls Hamas a terrorist organization, calls Israel an essential ally, and puts responsibility for addressing Gaza’s humanitarian crisis on the Israeli government.) The 3/4 split captures the tension between his acts against sending Israel weapons (Block the Bombs, the Ceasefire Compliance Act and the April 2024 Nay, along with a July 2026 Aye on the Massie amendment that he has not explained) and an otherwise moderate record that includes a Yea on the April 2024 resolution condemning “from the river to the sea.”
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).