Rep. John Mannion (left) and Kailee Buller (right). Mannion and Buller will face each other in the race for New York's 22nd Congressional District. Credit: Surya Vaidy | Central Current, courtesy of Kailee Buller's campaign

Editor’s note: This story is part of CNY Decides, a collaboration between Central Current and WAER Syracuse Public Media to demystify the political process and bring you the stories and information you’ll remember in the voting booth in 2026. Click here to read, watch and listen to other installments in the collaboration.

As Rep. John Mannion prepares for November’s midterm election, his voting record on Israel has been cast into the spotlight by some local Jewish groups with opposing views on the foreign nation and its ongoing military actions in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank, and Iran.

Members of congress from both major political parties have traditionally declared nearly unconditional aid and assistance for Israel. From 1946 through 2024, the United States has sent $244 billion in military aid to Israel. 

But many Americans are questioning this ongoing support. An April 2026 poll from the Pew Research Center found 60% of adult Americans have an unfavorable view of Israel. 

Within the Democratic Party, opposition to Israel is more widespread. A June poll from Data for Progress found that around 60% of New York voters oppose continued military aid to Israel. Most Democrats in New York believe Israel is committing genocide, and almost three-quarters of registered Democrats nationwide oppose military aid to Israel.

That shift is reflected in the Block the Bombs Act, a measure that could begin to reshape the traditional paradigm of American military support for Israel. The bill would limit the transfer, sale and export of certain munitions to Israel. Those munitions include bunker busting bombs, tank and artillery ammunition, and white phosphorus. The bill would not fully ban American weapons from reaching Israel; Supporters of the legislation say it is tailored to block Israel from accessing the weaponry that it has primarily used throughout its offensive on Gaza.

The Block the Bombs Act is currently cosponsored by 81 House Democrats as well as Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie. The bill will likely not be voted on until at least next session — meaning the winner of New York’s 22nd Congressional District could play a key role in passing or rejecting the legislation.

Mannion has not said how he would vote, but he is caught between multiple sets of constituents and his opponent. Syracuse Jewish Voice for Peace and allied organizations have for over a year tried to coordinate an in-person meeting with Mannion to discuss Mannion’s past and upcoming votes on military funding to Israel, including the Block the Bombs Act.

Mannion has not met with those constituents.

Buller has also criticized Mannion for those votes, and suggested they indicate that Mannion is not a staunch enough ally of Israel. In 2024, Representative Brandon Williams, the incumbent Republican who Mannion ultimately defeated, similarly framed Mannion as not being a strong enough Israel supporter, prompting Mannion to passionately defend his support of the foreign nation.

End Antisemitism Now, a local Jewish group that advocates staunch support for Israel, has also recently rebuked Mannion for votes the group considers anti-Israel. 

Brian Raphael, president of End Antisemitism Now, did not respond to a reporter’s request for comment on Mannion’s voting record on Israel.

Mannion’s mixed record

In his first term in Congress, Mannion’s votes and public statements have generally aligned with the interests of Israel, a nation Mannion considers a critical regional ally. But the representative has demonstrated that his support for the nation is conditional, and has called for the Israeli government to ““change course” and said it has caused “intolerable suffering in Gaza.”

Mannion has accepted funding from pro-Israel PACs and cast pro-Israel votes, and in 2025 co-sponsored the United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025 (though that bill never left committee). But in July, Mannion supported the “Massie Amendment,” a failed effort to block military funding for Israel. 

“I voted yes on the Massie Amendment because the United States cannot continue providing military assistance without stronger oversight, meaningful accountability, and clear conditions governing how American weapons are used,” Mannion said in a statement following the vote. 

Central Current asked Mannion’s communications director David Doyle for an interview with Mannion on his voting record on Israel, but the office declined an interview and sent the same statement it had published after the vote.

Mannion also cast a ‘nay’ vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a provision to merge aspects of American and Israeli defense technology. He is a cosponsor of the West Bank Violence Protection Act, a bill introduced in 2025 that seeks to “prevent acts of violence in the West Bank and to punish those who commit such acts,” according to a press release from the bill’s original sponsors.

In September, Mannion broke with most Democrats and voted for the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026, which bans colleges accepting federal funds from boycotting Israel or Israeli entities. The legislation, which would not currently impact any colleges or universities, aims to block the “boycott, divest, and sanction” movement advocated by some student groups across the US who want to cut ties with the foreign nation currently committing an ongoing genocide. That movement is modeled after international efforts to boycott Apartheid South Africa. 

Central Current asked Doyle for an interview with the congressman to discuss whether he intends to support the Block the Bombs Act. Doyle responded with a link to a telephone town hall in which a JVP Syracuse member asked Mannion directly about the legislation, but did not receive a direct answer.

Asked if he would join more than 80 of his Democratic peers in the House in cosponsoring the Block the Bombs Act, Mannion called for “sustained peace in the Middle East” through a two-state solution and cited his voting record — but did not indicate his position on the legislation.

“I’ve supported multiple pieces of legislation making sure that there is not only humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, but also accountability for leadership in Israel,” Mannion said.

Mannion’s position on the Block the Bombs Act remains unclear, but his opponent knows she would oppose the bill.

In a statement to Central Current, Buller wrote that she would vote against the Block the Bombs Act, and suggested Mannion’s support for the failed Massie Amendment demonstrated a contradiction from Mannion’s statements expressing support for Israel.

“I’m an ally of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East. I would be a no on that bill. I’m not going to jeopardize the safety and security of our Jewish friends. When it matters, John Mannion showed his true colors, sided with AOC and the far-left, and abandoned the Jewish state,” Buller wrote.

‘Learning of this only strengthens our resolve’

Mannion’s votes on Israel have both encouraged and frustrated some local Jewish groups. 

After the Massie Amendment vote, End Antisemitism Now Central New York issued a letter with 250 signatures from Jewish constituents expressing frustration with Mannion for that position. 

But the votes encouraged members of Jewish Voice for Peace Syracuse, the Central New York Working Families Party, and the Syracuse Peace Council, who have pushed Mannion to rethink his support for Israel as the nation continues to face accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing from the international community.

Mannion has not personally met with a group of constituents concerned about his support for Israel.

Mannion’s staffers have corresponded with and have held multiple meetings in the past with the Syracuse JVP, SPC, and WFP activists, but Mannion has not attended any of those meetings, according to Syracuse JVP member Rachel Bass. 

JVP members appreciate the engagement from the office, but Mannion’s staffers said they cannot speak for the congressman and cannot commit to support for the legislation they are advocating for, Bass said. They also haven’t answered the group’s requests for a direct meeting with Mannion.

“Probably, from their perspective, they are doing a good job in that regard,” Bass said. “But certainly the perception on our side is that it hasn’t been a good faith effort and that he is ignoring or possibly even evading his constituents who want to hold him accountable for this specifically.”

Bass described the most recent meeting with Mannion’s staffers as “not particularly fruitful.” The activists sent a follow-up email asking for more clarity on Mannion’s positions on Block the Bombs and related legislation, but the Mannion office’s responses were “vague and insufficient,” Bass said. 

The activists have delivered over 250 signed letters from constituents in support of the Block the Bombs Act to Mannion’s office, Bass said. CNY WFP, which endorsed Mannion, recently created a petition calling on Mannion to sign on the legislation.

Mannion’s support for the Republican-led Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026 also prompted CNY WFP to criticize the congressman. Though Mannion and others who supported that bill characterized it as a measure to protect Jewish students, New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, the longest serving Jewish member of Congress, called the bill a “direct and gross violation of the First Amendment.”

“Supporting this bill does nothing to support students on campus, prevent hate, or improve the reality in the Middle East,” Nadler said in a statement following the vote.

In a recent debate hosted by Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard, Mannion invoked other Jewish voices in his party when explaining his vote, and said that he believed calls to boycott Israel can lead to anti-semitism.

“We have students here at Syracuse University who are Israeli citizens. I don’t think that those students who came here as a part of educational and cultural exchange programs should be banned from attending our universities. I’ve met with those students,” Mannion said.

After learning Mannion had met with Israeli students, but not his own constituents who have requested a meeting with him for over a year, JVP Syracuse sharply criticized Mannion.

“We are appalled, but not surprised, that Rep. Mannion has admitted to meeting with Israeli students who, as citizens of a foreign country and as college students, are likely not part of his voting base,” JVP Syracuse said in a statement to Central Current.

The organization suggested Mannion was avoiding meeting in person with its members and allied activists because he knows that those constituents do not approve of much of his voting record on Israel.

“He acknowledges meeting with individuals who align with his views and voting record on Israel while continuing to ignore members of his local constituency who include Jewish US citizens — some of whom are direct descendants of Holocaust survivors — likely because we do not support his record on these issues. Learning of this only strengthens our resolve,” JVP Syracuse wrote.

Three years on from the start of Israel’s offensive in Gaza — considered by a United Nations commission, leading genocide scholars and international human rights groups to be a genocide of the Palestinian people — American taxpayers have paid for over $21 in military aid to Israel. Israel is slated to receive a total of $38 billion in American military aid from 2019 to 2028 through a memorandum of understanding signed by former President Barack Obama.

Israel has killed more than 74,000 people, including at least 20,000 children, since Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Much of those deaths stem from the indiscriminate tactics the IDF used throughout the war on Gaza. The new documentary “NAZA,” produced by Israeli directors, documents Israeli soldiers describing in their own words how the IDF treated civilians as acceptable collateral damage when targeting suspected enemy combatants. In one instance, the Israeli military approved the potential destruction of 500 people in order to eliminate a single target, according to the filmmakers.

Thousands more bodies are believed to remain under the rubble, and Israel continues to kill Gazans at a near daily pace; Israel has killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza since a “ceasefire” came into effect in October 2025. 

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinians and illegally occupy their lands. In March, United Nations experts warned that “state-backed terror squads” were “at the forefront of Israel’s ethnic cleansing and annexation policy.” Settlers are routinely attacking the annual Palestinian olive harvest, where settlers have killed a Palestinian, injured more than a hundred others (including Americans) and attacked journalists. 

Mannion has largely placed the blame for Israel’s military assault on Gaza at the feet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, along with IDF commander Yoah Gallant, faces a pending arrest warrant in the International Court of Criminal Justice for crimes against humanity.

But support for Israel’s actions in Gaza is widespread across Israeli society, according to a 2025 poll commissioned by Pennsylvania State University for an Israeli polling firm. 

That poll found that 82% of Israelis polled supported expelling Palestinians from Gaza, more than half supported expelling Palestinian Christians from Israel, and nearly half of Israelis polled agreed that “when conquering an enemy city, the Israel Defense Forces should act as the Israelites did in Jericho under Joshua’s command – killing all its inhabitants.” In a separate 2025 poll conducted by Hebrew University’s aChord Center, 64% of respondents agreed with the statement “there are no innocents in Gaza.” An August 2026 poll found that a majority of Israelis polled supported either annexing the entire West Bank, or partitioning the territory.

Rivals in Israel’s far-right political parties have even attempted to frame Netanyahu as being too favorable to Palestinians. 

Netanyahu is up for reelection next week in a contest that may serve as a referendum for the Israeli people on the prime minister’s handling of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks. Recent reporting suggests that Netanyahu may have had advance notice about Hamas’ plans. According to a recent book from reporters with Israeli publication Haaretz, Netanyahu may have received a personal warning from the president of the United Arab Emirates about Hamas’ plans, an allegation Netanyahu has rejected.

In NY-22, voters are choosing between a Republican pledging stalwart support for Israel, and a Democrat who characterizes himself as supportive of the Israeli people yet critical of the “Netanyahu-led government.” It remains to be seen how Mannion would consider military funding for Israel should the nation name a new prime minister, given his opponents are avow similarly militaristic, right-wing views.

Will Staton, the independent who failed to win a ballot line in the NY-22 contest, offered a significantly different position on Israel than Mannion and Buller. Staton has published his own peace plan for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, and advocated for a halt in offensive weaponry sales and transfers to Israel until Israel ceases hostilities in Gaza and with neighboring countries.

Staton said that Israel’s actions in Gaza are both “morally indefensible” and “incredibly counterintuitive” for Israel’s own interests.

“If I were in charge right now, I would stop sending anything with an offensive capacity to Israel. Like, if it could be used, even if it were defensive in nature, but you could shoot it across the border, I would not send it to Israel right now,” Staton said.

To Bass, the Syracuse JVP activist, Mannion’s actions in challenging Staton’s petitions, and thereby blocking NY-22 voters from having more of a choice on Israel on their ballot, represented an anti-democratic move that entrenched existing positions on Israel.

“So to me, it’s just very clear that the status quo is the goal, and that there’s not really any intention of doing really anything one way or the other, unless they’re absolutely forced to on this issue.” Bass said.

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Patrick McCarthy is a staff reporter at Central Current covering government and politics. A graduate of Syracuse University’s Maxwell and Newhouse Schools, McCarthy was born and raised in Syracuse and...