Panetta’s record

1. Supported Israeli Military Action in Gaza

Panetta announced on Aug 15, 2025 that he and other military veteran members of Congress wrote to the Israeli ambassador, supporting Israel “continuing its efforts to defeat Hamas.”

Panetta’s belief that Israel’s military action against Hamas should continue ran counter to 92% of Democrats. It was also at odds with former Israeli military and intelligence chiefs who wrote a letter to Donald Trump on August 4 . Signatories include five former heads of Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security), and three former chiefs of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces. The letter read, “Stop the Gaza War! …Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat”.

2. Voted for Unconditional Military Aid to Israel

On July 15, 2026, a majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to cut any military aid to Israel. Panetta voted to continue military aid.

In April 2024 Rep. Panetta voted for $17 billion in military aid to Israel, in spite of the Leahy Laws that prohibit United States military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights, and the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act that prohibits providing military assistance to countries that restrict the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid.

In May, 2024, President Biden paused the delivery of bombs to Israel in an effort to stop Israel from attacking Rafa. Panetta signed a letter to the White House stating, “We are deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel.”

3. Voted to Stop US Funds for UN Humanitarian Aid

In January 2024, several countries suspended their contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that some UNRWA employees were involved in the attacks of October 7, 2023. A UN investigation found 9 staff members (out of 13,000 in Gaza) “may have been involved” in the October 7th attacks. All countries have resumed their contributions to UNWRA, except the United States.

In January 2025 Israel banned UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank. In March Israel cut off food and medical aid to Gaza and cut off electricity for water plants . UNRWA is the agency with the human resources to end famine and relieve the trauma. Panetta has declined to support the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act or advocate that Israel allow UNRWA to distribute humanitarian aid.

2026 Update Standing up for humanitarian aid is crucial at this time, when Israel has banned 37 humanitarian aid groups from Gaza and the West Bank, including Doctors Without Borders, American Friends Service Committee, and OXFAM. Supplying humanitarian aid should not be controversial. Yet on January 14, 2026 Panetta voted to ban US funding for UNRWA in Palestine.

4. Voted to Undermine International Courts

On January 23, 2024, Rep. Panetta joined Republicans in signing a letter to “express our disgust” with South Africa’s filing of a “grossly unfounded case against Israel at the International Court of Justice”. 

In May 2024, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court presented evidence to the Court of crimes against humanity, seeking arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders. In response,  Panetta voted with House Republicans on a resolution to sanction International Criminal Court officials, dismissing the court’s charges as “illegitimate and baseless”. The evidence presented by South Africa and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was consistent with evidence by  Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, and a UN report labeling Israeli and Hamas actions as “crimes against humanity.” 

5. Denied the war crimes in Gaza

While in Israel on October 11, 2023, Rep. Jimmy Panetta recorded an interview with KSBW. Panetta said, “It was made clear to us” [by Israeli officials] that “they are going to abide by international law. They are going to abide by the laws of war.”

Panetta made this statement in spite of the statement by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on October 9th, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel…We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” As an attorney and a former Navy intelligence officer, Panetta is aware that a cornerstone of International Humanitarian Law prohibits starvation of non-combatants.

The visual evidence that was available in the media at the time of Panetta’s statement was that Israel was bombing entire blocks of apartment buildings and mosques. Targeting civilians and violating this principle is a war crime. Panetta’s statement provided cover for Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

6. Voted to Stifle Nonviolent Domestic Dissent

• In 2017, Panetta co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which would have made it a crime punishable by a prison term to support a boycott of Israel or companies doing business with Israel.
• In November 2024, Panetta was one of just 15 House Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass HR 9495, which would have given the Trump administration the authority to remove the nonprofit status of organizations without due process. This bill was opposed by 354 civil rights groups, including ACLU and NAACP.  Democrats in the Senate killed the measure.

7. Panetta’s pro-settler vote

Jimmy Panetta’s first press release as a member of Congress in 2017 announced that he had voted for House Resolution 11, which called UN Security Council Resolution 2334 “one-sided and anti-Israel”. UN Resolution 2334 passed the UN Security Council on a 14-0 vote, with the US abstaining (thereby allowing it to pass).

Panetta’s position was inconsistent with US policy. President Obama’s Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, explained “the United States’ long-standing position that Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 undermines Israel’s security, harms the viability of a negotiated two-state outcome, and erodes prospects for peace and stability in the region. Today, the Security Council reaffirmed its established consensus that settlements have no legal validity. The United States has been sending the message that the settlements must stop – privately and publicly – for nearly five decades, through the administrations of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and now Barack Obama.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the UN resolution.