Gus Bilirakis
R · U.S. House, FL-12 · Tier 1
Tier 1, “Firmly pro-Israel”
Founding co-chair (2013) of the Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance, which he still co-leads, and author of a 2011 bill (H.R.3131) whose findings call Israel's blockade of Gaza “necessary and legal” and which directed the State Department to weigh designating the Gaza flotilla's organizers as terrorist organizations. Since October 2023 he has co-led two bipartisan letters to Blinken over Erdoğan's support for Hamas (Jul and Nov 2024), joined a joint-caucus statement that “Hamas is a terrorist group committed to murdering Jews and destroying Israel” (Oct 2023), and cosponsored the bill to replace UNRWA (Jul 2026). He voted for every tracked Israel measure he was present for — the Israel-only supplementals of November 2023 and February 2024 (he cosponsored the latter) and the April 2024 package, H.Res.894, the May 2024 bill to force the paused bomb shipment (an original cosponsor), both ICC-sanctions bills (Jun 2024, Jan 2025) and the September 2026 college anti-boycott bill — and against the 2025 Greene and 2026 Massie cuts; he did not vote on the June 2024 amendment barring use of Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures. Asked in iVoterGuide’s 2026 general-election questionnaire whether the U.S. relationship with Israel is important, Bilirakis answered: “Yes. Israel is a vital strategic ally and our partnership is important to America’s national security interests. Our nations share strong democratic values and work together to combat terrorism, counter Iran and other regional threats, advance defense and intelligence cooperation, and promote stability in the Middle East. I remain committed to Israel’s right to defend itself while supporting efforts to achieve lasting peace, security, and prosperity throughout the region.” In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel.
A 1. He has led on Israel as founding co-chair of the Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance since 2013 and as author of the 2011 flotilla bill backing the blockade of Gaza, and since October 2023 he has co-led letters against Turkey's support for Hamas while voting for every Israel measure he was present for; no statement of concern for Gaza's civilians during the genocide was found. Counter-case: a 1/2 if the alliance is read as a Greek-American, Eastern Mediterranean caucus rather than an Israel caucus — most of its recent output targets Turkey — and the flotilla bill as too old to define his record.
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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).