For the better part of a year, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has called on Congress to block additional military aid and arms sales to Israel to save lives in Gaza. In January, he responded to the Biden administration’s request for an additional $10 billion in aid to Israel as follows: announces“That’s enough. Congress should reject this funding. U.S. taxpayers should no longer be complicit in the destruction of the lives of innocent men, women and children in Gaza.” A month later, after voting against a $95 billion additional appropriations bill, he said: “This bill is the right-wing government of Netanyahu’s Palestinian government.” “I will continue to vote NO as long as it includes (funding) that will allow him to continue his terrible war against his people.”

Sanders’s fight in the Senate, where aid packages for Israel through 2024 have been pushed forward with little or no opposition for decades, has often been a lonely one. But Sanders is not so alone anymore.

The senator and former presidential candidate is joined by a growing number of senators and activist groups who support the United States’ effort to win approval of a trio of landmark Joint Consent Decisions (JRDs) that would block the sale of certain assault weapons. To Israel. The JRDs, which are expected to be voted on today, are the only legislative avenue available to senators who want to block the Biden administration’s efforts to sell an additional $20 billion in weapons to Israel. Sanders says:

(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) There is now no doubt that Netanyahu’s extremist government is flagrantly violating US and international law as it wages a barbaric war against the Palestinian people in Gaza. More than 43,000 Palestinians were killed and 102,000 injured out of a population of 2.2 million; Sixty percent of them are women, children and the elderly. Israel destroyed 70 percent of Gaza’s housing, civilian infrastructure, healthcare system and hundreds of schools. It bombed each of Gaza’s 12 universities.

As terrible as the past year has been (since the October 7 Hamas attack), the current situation is even worse. Today, Israel continues to restrict the flow of food and medicine to desperate people. Tens of thousands of Palestinians face malnutrition and hunger. The volume of aid reaching Gazans is lower than at any time last year. Blocking humanitarian aid is a violation of the Foreign Assistance Act as well as the Geneva Convention.

Sanders is still fighting an uphill battle. Even now, the majority of senators do not want to break with the Biden administration and Netanyahu government on the issue of arms sales.

But Sanders now has leading allies in the fight. Senator Elizabeth Warren D-Massachusetts, D-Massachusetts, expressed deep disappointment at the lack of accountability for Netanyahu’s refusal to comply with U.S. demands to increase humanitarian aid, including “food, water and basic needs for desperate Palestinian civilians.” Warren noted Last week, “Despite Netanyahu’s failure to meet US demands, the Biden administration has taken no action to restrict the flow of offensive weapons.” The Biden administration’s failure to comply with US laws and suspend arms shipments is a grave mistake that undermines America’s credibility around the world. “If this administration fails to act, Congress must act to enforce U.S. law and hold Netanyahu’s government accountable through a Joint Certification Resolution.”

Three more senators (Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Peter Welch and Chris Van Hollen of Vermont) voted to support resolutions proposing to block the sale of 120 mm tank rounds, 120 mm high-explosive mortar rounds and JDAMs (guidance kits added to many of them). is planning. Bombs were dropped on Gaza. Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz is also expected to support at least one resolution.

A number of organizations are urging the Senate to support Sanders’ initiative, including progressive Jewish advocacy group J Street, which bills itself as the leader of America’s “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy movement.” Liberal Democrats on Capitol Hill. On Monday, J Street called on Senators to: Vote yes on at least one of the resolutions “In Netanyahu’s policies and actions to send a message about the Netanyahu government’s disapproval of the war in Gaza and its disrespect for the Biden Administration and international law, as well as the failure of the US administration to enforce American laws and use pressure to rein it in.”

“Voting yes on at least one disapproval resolution sends a signal that there is the political will in Washington to challenge the course of the war, to enforce American laws, and to enforce American laws, which is seen in American politics, the Middle East, and the world.” “When the Israeli government repeatedly defies the will of the American president, we will use the leverage we have.” says J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami.

Group Jewish Voice of Peace, Israel, which has been much bolder in its opposition to Netanyahu and Israel’s Gaza offensive, is also pressing for a “yes” vote in favor of the resolutions. “The pain, the sadness, and the suffering are endless. And it is financed and enabled by the Biden administration, which continues to arm the Israeli government. Congress must intervene,” says JVP. “For the first time in US history, Congress will vote to prevent the supply of arms to Israel. Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch and Jeff Merkley filed Joint Consent Resolutions to stop $20 billion in arms shipments approved by the Biden administration.”

This move by Sanders and his allies has received significant support from religious, civil rights and peace organizations such as the Friends Committee for National Legislation, the Arab American Institute and Peace Action, which have a history of advocating for peace in the Middle East. Some of the country’s largest unions also weigh in on the decisions.

In a particularly bold statement released Monday, the Service Employees International Union, which represents nearly two million workers and has long worked closely with the Biden administration and Senate Democrats, urged senators to support the resolutions. “SEIU members have made clear that they want an end to the use of taxpayer dollars to finance military aid that enables attacks on innocent civilians in Gaza.” declared SEIU International President April Verrett. “It is time for Senators to take action to help bring a peaceful resolution to this conflict.”

Sanders argues that this peaceful solution will remain unachievable if the United States fails to stand up to Netanyahu. “It is clear that what is happening in Gaza today is indescribable, but what makes it even more painful is that much of it was done with US weapons and American taxpayer dollars. Last year alone, the United States provided $18 billion in military aid to Israel and delivered more than 50,000 tons of military equipment, Sanders said Monday. “In other words, the United States is complicit in this oppression. This complicity must end, and that is the purpose of these decisions. “It is time to tell the Netanyahu government that they cannot use US taxpayer dollars and American weapons in a way that violates US and international law and our moral values.”

We can’t step back

Now we face a second Trump presidency.

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Katrina Vanden Heuvel
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Nation

john nichols

John Nichols is a national affairs correspondent. Nation. He has written, co-authored, or edited more than a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyzes of U.S. and global media systems. His latest book, written with Senator Bernie Sanders New York Times best seller It’s Normal to Be Angry at Capitalism.

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