Did Congress vote to ‘merge’ the US and Israeli militaries? No, that’s False.

Did Congress just approve a merger of the U.S. and Israeli militaries?

That’s what U.S. politicians from both political parties are saying.

This story was originally published on PolitiFact.com.

“Yesterday, the United States Congress voted to merge our military with Israel’s military,” Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback said in a July 23 X video. “This may be the last straw for American sovereignty.”

On July 21, a day before the House was scheduled to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said the bill “includes a provision to merge parts of our military with the (Israel Defense Force). This amendment is an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy.”

U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., also criticized Section 219 of the bill, which outlines U.S. and Israeli military cooperation, and co-introduced an amendment to strip it from the legislation. House leadership didn’t allow a vote on the amendment, and the House passed the legislation July 22. The Senate has yet to take it up.

But Fishback’s and other politicians’ comments mischaracterize the legislation.

The fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act — a sweeping annual package that sets funding and policy for the U.S. Defense Department — doesn’t create any joint military command, integrate troops or operational authority or yield command of U.S. forces to Israel — all of which would be required for merging militaries.

Instead, it formalizes joint production for certain technologies, expands research sharing between the countries and integrates portions of the defense supply chain.

“I don’t see how anyone could read this provision and believe that the two militaries were merging in any way,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and military specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national security-focused think tank. “The section outlines a process for coordinating technologies between the two countries. We do that with many countries.”

Rhetoric about merging militaries “doesn’t make sense and wouldn’t hold up legally in any sustainable way that I could imagine,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program.

PolitiFact contacted Fishback for comment but did not receive a response.

What does Section 219 do?

The provision makes it easier for the U.S. and Israel to acquire technology from each other, something the countries have been doing for a long time.

“We have cooperated with the Israelis on military technological development before — most notably on the development of air defenses,” said Raphael Cohen, a defense policy expert at the Rand Corp., a nonpartisan research organization. “So, while this increases defense cooperation between the U.S. and Israel, this is not altogether unprecedented.”

Titled “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” Section 219 directs the U.S. defense secretary to designate an executive agent to coordinate and oversee U.S. and Israel cooperation.

The section says the U.S.-appointed agent’s responsibilities include promoting joint training exercises, overseeing the integration of technologies and managing research projects between the two countries.

Focus areas include drones, missile and air defense technologies, AI systems, supply chains, cyber defense, network integration and data fusion.

Currently, several federal offices with equal authority oversee the U.S.-Israel technology cooperation, said Kelly Grieco, a defense policy expert at the Stimson Center think tank. Section 219 changes that by giving the newly-created “executive agent” the ability to outrank other offices, she said.

Although Grieco described the agent’s role as unusual, with other U.S. allies having no equivalent, she agreed that the bill doesn’t merge the two countries’ militaries.

U.S. defense agreements with allies vary

The U.S. cooperates with allies and partners around the world to varying degrees, experts said. Because the agreements depend on multiple factors, no two look the same.

• The U.S. agreement on nuclear submarines with Australia and the United Kingdom involves more sensitive data sharing than the Israeli agreement, experts said.

• A U.S.-Japan agreement coordinates joint research and development on technology, such as missile defense systems and works to integrate Japanese and American defense supply chains and maintenance capabilities.

The U.S. also shares production responsibilities with several countries for various weapons and equipment. The F-35 fighter jet, for example, is primarily assembled at Lockheed Martin’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas, but its components are sourced from multiple countries. Created by the Joint Program Office, the F-35 program binds the U.S. and participating allies through shared financial risk, technology transfer agreements and manufacturing.

Our ruling

Fishback said Congress voted to “merge our military with Israel’s military.”

Section 219 of the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act establishes a framework for the U.S. and Israel to share technology. It doesn’t create a joint military command, integrate troops or yield command of U.S. forces to Israel — all of which would be required for merging militaries.

The House passed the bill, but the Senate has not taken it up.

Defense experts said the provision is similar to agreements the U.S. has with other allies across the world.

We rate the statement False.

PolitiFact Staff Writer Gracey Abernethy contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on PolitiFact.com.

It is republished here as part of a reporting and fact-checking partnership between PolitiFact and Hearst Television.