But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Michael DeCillis
Democrat · U.S. House, New York District 11
–No Position Found
How this mark works
We track key votes on sending U.S. weapons and money to the government of Israel. A check means every tracked vote they cast came down against sending more, on the side of peace and de-escalation. A question mark means a mixed record: they sided with sending up to half of the time. An X means they voted to send more weapons and money in over half of their tracked votes, even as the way those weapons and dollars were being used became more and more obvious. At exactly half, money this election cycle from a lobbying group we track, or an endorsement from a group that backs sending weapons, makes it an X. Only votes actually cast are counted. Where a candidate has no recorded votes on these bills, the mark comes instead from a reviewed reading of their public record (money from the lobbying groups we track, endorsements, and their own words since January 26, 2024). There an X also covers fully backing the conduct of the war by the government of Israel without significant reservations, and a question mark also covers speaking about Israel without saying clearly where they stand on U.S. weapons and funding. A dash means No Position Found: we found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.
No position located for DeCillis on U.S. weapons or money for the government of Israel, or on U.S. aid to Palestinians. His candidate interview sets out a platform on democracy, inequality, education and healthcare, and does not raise the conflict.
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DeCillis is the Democratic nominee in New York’s 11th District, covering Staten Island and part of southern Brooklyn. He is a former NYPD officer, a 9/11 EMS paramedic, a civil litigation attorney and a special education teacher.
His candidate interview of May 2026, read in full, is about constitutional guardrails, economic inequality, school funding and universal healthcare, and does not mention Israel, Gaza or foreign aid. An initial search reports a July 2026 video in which he disagreed sharply with the Israeli government’s military strategy and distinguished that criticism from antisemitism; no source for it opened, so it is on the research page and not stated here as established.
You are better placed to change that than we are. Ask DeCillis directly, or at a candidate forum, and send us the reply: it goes on this page in their own words, which is worth more than anything we could write about them.
The money
Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found
2026 support from the five lobbying groups we track
Nothing recorded (as of 2026-07-23) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.
Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.
✓ Endorsed by Peace Action
Peace ActionA national peace and disarmament group. Its endorsements cover war, Pentagon spending and diplomacy broadly, not only U.S. weapons for the government of Israel.These endorsements come from groups that push to restrict or end U.S. weapons transfers to the government of Israel. Endorsements from these groups are shown for information; they do not decide the mark.
In their words
Endorsements
Peace Action (2026 endorsement)
Research log
The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
An initial search’s own verdict: "No public statements or personal actions by Michael DeCillis on U.S. military aid, weapons transfers, or conditioned aid to Israel were found." Confirmed against his candidate interview, read in full, which raises none of it.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
Nothing located. No statement on UNRWA, Gaza humanitarian funding or the aid pipeline.
Characterization of the conflict
2026-07-07 [Current position; SOURCE DID NOT OPEN, not used on the card]: An initial search reports a public video message in which he expressed sharp disagreement with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government’s military strategy, describing his criticism as driven by "the devastating loss of civilian life in this conflict", saying that calling out policies leading to "immense human suffering" is about upholding "international humanitarian principles and a basic value for human life", and comparing criticism of Israeli military policy to Americans criticizing their own president. **No source page for this opened.** It is the only substantive in-scope material on the record and it cannot currently be cited, which is why the card is written as an absence.
Rhetoric and lobbying
An initial search’s own verdict: nothing found on Israel-related lobbying or political action committees.
Safety and antisemitism
2026-03-23 [Current position; context only, third-party source page]: He visited the Wagner College Holocaust Center on Staten Island with its founding director, Dr. Lori R. Weintrob, and met local Jewish community representatives. The only source page is a photo post on a third party’s account, not his own. Safety material is context and never the answer to what America sends, so this would not carry a card in any case.
2026-07-07 [Current position; SOURCE DID NOT OPEN; context only]: In the same reported video message he said "True anti-Semitism is a real and dangerous form of hatred directed at Jewish identity, culture, and faith", and argued that conflating political criticism of the Israeli government with prejudice against Jewish people harms the fight against real hatred. Same missing source page.
Consulted and unusable
Three of the seven sources found are the same Facebook post from Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’s account, which would not open and does not name him. **She is the incumbent he is running against, and that post is a partisan attack on "radical left Democrats" generally.** An opponent's characterization of a candidate is not that candidate's position and nothing here rests on it.
Nothing located before 2023-10-07. He has held no federal office.
What came back empty or unusable
His campaign site was checked directly and no page on the conflict was found in its retrievable text.
The July 7 video message is the whole of his substantive record here and has no locatable source. That is the single most consequential gap on this card.
But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and
funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps.
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