Lateefah Simon
D · U.S. House, CA-12 · Tier 4
Tier 4, “Critical / conditions aid”
Cosponsors Block the Bombs, Tlaib's genocide resolution and — as an original cosponsor — Tlaib’s 2025 and 2026 Nakba and right-of-return resolutions (H.Res.409, one of only eight, and H.Res.1289, May 14, 2026), plus the UNRWA restoration act and the McCollum Palestinian children's-rights bill; and says in her own voice that “the genocide against the Palestinian people must end.” Grieves the children of Gaza and, in the same breath, Israeli families who lost loved ones, while explicitly refusing the both-sides frame: “We can refuse the trap that tells us that we must choose whose pain is real. There are no two sides when we're talking about tens of thousands of children, slaughtered.” The bills she backs condition offensive arms only, but she voted Aye on the July 15, 2026 Massie amendment stripping Israel’s military financing from the FY27 foreign-operations bill (roll 243), saying “We cannot continue to give military and financial assistance to a government that is not following the Leahy Laws and violating international law,” and signed the 27-member statement led by Jim McGovern explaining that vote, which says existing human rights conditions on US security assistance “have not been meaningfully enforced.” In 2025 she signed letters demanding answers on the detentions of the student activists Mahmoud Khalil (March) and Mohsen Mahdawi (April), and the August letter urging Secretary Rubio to press Israel to allow a surge of aid into Gaza, above all infant formula; in January 2026, the Welch–Khanna letter asking the administration to warn Israel off annexation and the E-1 settlement and to reimpose Biden-era West Bank sanctions. Simon cosponsored Tlaib’s Lebanon war-powers resolution (H.Con.Res.83) on Apr 13, 2026. In August and September 2026 Simon signed Tlaib’s letter demanding the release of 20-year-old US citizen Sama Safi from Israeli military detention, the Dexter–Ruiz letter seeking the release of Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israeli detention without charge (Sep 8) and the Pocan–Quigley letter on Palestinian medical workers held by Israel without charge (Sep 24). On Oct 1, 2026 Simon 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. On Oct 22, 2026, after Israeli forces detained roughly ninety olive-harvest volunteers near Bethlehem, Simon wrote: “Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. … Our country’s and international law holds for every government or they hold for none.” She added: “I will keep voting for meals before munitions every time.” In June 2026 Simon 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.” Jewish Insider reported on Oct 23, 2026 that Simon was among about 30 signers of a draft letter, led by Rep. Ro Khanna and gathering signatures through Nov 6, urging the negotiators of the 2027 defense authorization bill to strip its U.S.-Israel defense-technology cooperation provisions; the draft, which cites Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, says “These are not the actions of a government whose defense establishment should be granted deeper access to American military technology, nor rewarded with U.S. defense contracts,” and asks that any framework kept “carry human rights conditions consistent with those governing other United States security assistance.”
A 4. As an original cosponsor of Tlaib’s 2025 and 2026 Nakba resolutions (H.Res.409, one of only eight cosponsors, and H.Res.1289), she is on record for the Palestinian right of return, a position that questions Israel’s legitimacy and reaches toward the Tier 6 end. It sits on a strong record in office: an original cosponsor of the Block the Bombs Act (May 21, 2025) and of the H.Res.876 genocide resolution (Nov 13, 2025); an Aye on the July 2026 Massie amendment to strip Israel’s military financing, with her signature on the statement explaining it; cosponsorships of the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act (Mar 27, 2025) and the McCollum Palestinian children’s-rights bill (H.R.7545, May 11, 2026); and, in her own voice, “the genocide against the Palestinian people must end.” What holds her at 4 is aid: the bills she backs condition offensive arms, and although on July 15, 2026 she said, “We cannot continue to give military and financial assistance to a government that is not following the Leahy Laws and violating international law,” in July 2025, during the genocide, she voted to keep Israel’s missile-defense funding; and she takes no BDS, full-embargo or anti-Zionist position by name. Counter-case: 4/5, weighing the Nakba resolutions and her Massie Aye above the aid position.
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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).