WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing several resolutions that would stop more than $20 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel, a longshot effort but the most substantive pushback yet from Congress over the devastation in Gaza ahead of the first year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war.
In a letter to Senate colleagues on Wednesday, Sanders said the U.S. cannot be “complicit in this humanitarian disaster.” The action would force an eventual vote to block the arms sales to Israel, though majority passage is highly unlikely.
“Much of this carnage in Gaza has been carried out with U.S.-provided military equipment,” Sanders, I-Vt., wrote.
As the war grinds toward a second year, and with the outcome of President Joe Biden’s efforts to broker a cease-fire deal and hostage release uncertain, the resolutions from Sanders would seek to reign in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assault on Gaza. The war has killed some 41,000 people in Gaza after the surprise Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, and abducted 250 others, with militants still holding around 100 hostages.
While it’s doubtful the politically split Senate would pass the measures, the move is designed to send a message to the Netanyahu regime that its war effort is eroding the U.S.'s longtime bipartisan support for Israel. Sanders said he is working with other colleagues on the measures.
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Under the Senate rules, once Sanders introduces the resolutions next week, he can force a vote almost instantly for consideration. The measures are being proposed as a joint resolution of disapproval of the arms sales, which is a mechanism that allows congressional oversight of foreign affairs.
Sanders said he would have some backing for his proposal. But it is not expected to have support from a majority, 51 votes, in the Senate to pass.
In the House, blocking the Israeli arms sales would face even tougher odds, where Republicans hold the majority, and have largely sided with Netanyahu’s approach to the war with Hamas.
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"They say an American senator sent a message when selling them weapons"
We're gonna send a message! And that message is that we're gonna keep sending you as many weapons as you want! That'll teach ya!
Not only that, but the idea that the Senate is "politically split" on Israel is laughable.
The only split in the US senate is between the faction that wants to indirectly genocide the Palestinians by aiding the Israel government, and those who want to do it with the US navy parked offshore laying waste to Palestinians directly.
In the entire of the US Congress, across both houses, there's basically just one genuine anti-zionist and she happens to be the only Palestinian in the whole apparatus.
Meanwhile the netenyahu regime has been loudly broadcasting the message "we literally don't give one single solitary shit, we'll live stream ourselves throwing innocent civilians off roofs and storming TV stations to shut down dissenting views and you'll still give us all your money. We are literally doing the things the bad guys did in cod 4 and yet you'll still send us a black check every two weeks, thanks for the Healthcare dumbasses. Next week im gonna talk shit about you in your congress again, cuck."
Old man shakes fist at cloudOld man shakes fist at genocide
So what is the message then? That Israel can do whatever it wants and the US will support them? They already know that.