But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check

Aaron Gies

Democrat · U.S. House, New York District 23
✓From their own words
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.

See a dash? Ask the candidate where they stand, then send us their answer and we'll review it and update the mark. Or volunteer to help review candidates.

No recorded votes on the bills we track. In their own words on August 11, 2026.

Gies says "The United States should not be complicit in Israel's ongoing aggression by providing military aid", calls the occupation of Gaza an ongoing genocide, and wants accountability for the Netanyahu government and Palestinian self-determination.

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Deep Dive

Gies is the Democratic and Working Families Party nominee in New York’s 23rd District, and a faculty member in theology and Franciscan studies at St. Bonaventure University in Olean.

His platform states it plainly. His campaign site, read in full, says: "Israel’s occupation of Gaza is an ongoing genocide and their actions in the West Bank and Lebanon follow a similar pattern. The United States should not be complicit in Israel’s ongoing aggression by providing military aid. Long-term peace in the Middle East requires respect for human rights and a path to peaceful self-determination for Palestinians." That names the mechanism, which is what makes it a position on U.S. aid rather than a view of the war.

He puts it more conditionally elsewhere. On his candidate positions page he writes: "The Netanyahu government was right to pursue Hamas to bring the terrorists to justice and bring about the return of the hostages after the horrific October 7th, 2023 attacks, but they have gone too far, crossing legal and ethical lines. The US should not be complicit in war crimes and the violation of human rights. A just and lasting peace requires accountability for the Netanyahu government and a plan for peaceful self-determination for the Palestinian people."

Both are his and they are worth reading together. The platform is the blunter of the two; the positions page accepts the original pursuit of Hamas as legitimate before saying it went too far. Neither is a blanket objection to the alliance, and both end in the same place on American money.

His campaign also frames the region through the war with Iran, saying Trump’s war there "has weakened the United States at home and abroad" and that Israel’s attacks on Iran and on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon "are an ongoing threat to peace efforts".

In March 2026, after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, he said: "America should not attempt another regime change war. I oppose any move to send American soldiers to fight on the ground in Iran." That is about U.S. troops rather than about what America sends to this conflict.

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.

In their words

“The Netanyahu government was right to pursue Hamas to bring the terrorists to justice and bring about the return of the hostages after the horrific October 7th, 2023 attacks, but they have gone too far, crossing legal and ethical lines. The US should not be complicit in war crimes and the violation of human rights.”
Source ↗, 2026-08-11

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

  • 2026 [Current position; VERIFIED VERBATIM 2026-08-11]: From his campaign site, under "Foreign Affairs": "Israel's occupation of Gaza is an ongoing genocide and their actions in the West Bank and Lebanon follow a similar pattern. The United States should not be complicit in Israel's ongoing aggression by providing military aid. Long-term peace in the Middle East requires respect for human rights and a path to peaceful self-determination for Palestinians."

⚠ **TWO VERDICTS OF OURS THAT WERE WRONG, BOTH CORRECTED 2026-08-11.** This card first said his position could not be sourced at all, because `aaronforny23.com` would not open however we tried to reach it and localcandidates.org would not open. Both were our extraction, not the hosts. localcandidates.org returns 200 and renders its body client-side, established by a volunteer reading the page in a browser. And **aaronforny23.com opens with about 50,000 characters of readable text**, recovered on a second check properly. An initial search was right about this record on every point that could be checked, including the exact wording "by providing military aid".

  • 2026 [Current position; VERIFIED BY A VOLUNTEER 2026-08-11]: From his candidate positions page, verbatim: "The Netanyahu government was right to pursue Hamas to bring the terrorists to justice and bring about the return of the hostages after the horrific October 7th, 2023 attacks, but they have gone too far, crossing legal and ethical lines. The US should not be complicit in war crimes and the violation of human rights. A just and lasting peace requires accountability for the Netanyahu government and a plan for peaceful self-determination for the Palestinian people." A volunteer read this page in a browser and supplied both the quotation and the url.

The two statements differ in temper and agree in conclusion. The platform names military aid as the mechanism of complicity; the positions page names war crimes. The card uses the platform because naming the mechanism is what makes it a position on what America sends.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • 2026 [Current position; VERIFIED]: "A path to peaceful self-determination for Palestinians" and "respect for human rights" are his stated requirements for long-term peace. About political settlement rather than U.S. money; nothing located on UNRWA or Gaza humanitarian funding.

Characterization of the conflict

  • 2026 [Current position; VERIFIED]: "Israel's occupation of Gaza is an ongoing genocide and their actions in the West Bank and Lebanon follow a similar pattern." On his own campaign site.
  • 2026 [Current position; VERIFIED]: On Iran: "Trump's disastrous war with Iran has weakened the United States at home and abroad. Israel's attacks on Iran and its proxy Hezbollah in southern Lebanon are an ongoing threat to peace efforts." His platform's opening principle is that "the territorial sovereignty of nations must be respected".
  • 2026 [Current position; VERIFIED]: The positions page holds both halves at once: the pursuit of Hamas was right, and the Netanyahu government "have gone too far, crossing legal and ethical lines".
  • 2026 [Current position; CHECKED AND NOT FOUND]: An initial search reported his platform saying "I support the Jewish people and Israel's right to exist". The campaign site was read in full and searched: it contains no occurrence of "right to exist", "Jewish" or "AIPAC". That sentence may sit on a page not reached, and it is recorded here as reported and not located rather than as his.
  • 2026-03-03 [Current position; VERIFIED; out of scope for the card]: In the Olean Star he called Iran's ruling regime "murderous, corrupt, and unpopular with the Iranian people" and said: "America should not attempt another regime change war. I oppose any move to send American soldiers to fight on the ground in Iran." About U.S. troops and Iran. The same report carries the incumbent's contrasting view.

Rhetoric and lobbying

  • 2026-01-27 [Current position; CHECKED AND NOT FOUND ON THE SITE]: An initial search reports a campaign statement criticising AIPAC and pro-Israel lobbying influence, saying voters should not have to contend with "AIPAC-backed spending machines", with a call for publicly funded elections. The word AIPAC does not appear on the campaign site as read. A lobbying and campaign-finance argument never carries a card in its own right in any case.

Safety and antisemitism

  • Nothing located on his own pages, and an initial search’s "I support the Jewish people" sentence was searched for and not found.

Sources consulted and read

Consulted, could not be reached

Not found

  • Nothing needed. Both of the sources this card rests on were once written off and both read.
  • Two sentences an initial search attributed to his platform, on Israel's right to exist and on AIPAC, were searched for on the site and not located.

Also in this race

  1. ✗ Nicholas A. Langworthy (Republican)

All New York candidates.

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. Open Find Your Candidates for votes, funding and contact details.