Sanders Files to Force First-Ever Vote in Congress on Blocking Weapons to Israel
Sanders Files to Force First-Ever Vote in Congress on Blocking Weapons to Israel
“There is a mountain of documentary evidence” that Israel uses US weapons to violate the law, Sanders said.
On Wednesday, Sanders introduced six resolutions blocking six sales of different weapons contained within the $20 billion weapons deal announced by the Biden administration in August. The sales include many of the types of weapons that Israel has used in its relentless campaign of extermination in Gaza over the past year.
“Sending more weapons is not only immoral, it is also illegal. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act lay out clear requirements for the use of American weaponry – Israel has egregiously violated those rules,” said Sanders. “There is a mountain of documentary evidence demonstrating that these weapons are being used in violation of U.S. and international law.”
This will be the first time in history that Congress has ever voted on legislation to block a weapons sale to Israel, as the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project pointed out. This is despite the U.S. having sent Israel over $250 billion in military assistance in recent decades, according to analyst Stephen Semler, as Israel has carried out ethnic cleansings and massacres across Palestine and in Lebanon.
The resolutions are not likely to pass; even if they did pass the heavily pro-Israel Congress, they would likely be vetoed by President Joe Biden, who has been insistent on sending weapons to Israel with no strings attached.
However, Sanders’s move is in line with public opinion. Polls have consistently found that the majority of the public supports an end to Israel’s genocide; a poll by the Institute for Global Affairs released this week found, for instance, that a majority of Americans think the U.S. should stop supporting Israel or make support contingent on Israeli officials’ agreement to a ceasefire deal. This includes nearly 80 percent of Democrats.
For those who don’t know (there are probably a few) Bernie is Jewish, and his opinions better reflect the rest of us Jews than the crazies on the right (and left) and in Israel. I don’t have stats, but every American Jew I’ve talked to about this has been morally outraged and frankly mortified by Israel’s actions. We understand how it looks to the rest of the world. Don’t let the antisemitism arguments (usually pushed by Christians btw) fool you. Bernie is on the right side of this issue, as usual.
Bernie is always on top of these things, and you have to respect him for that.
Polls have consistently found that the majority of the public supports an end to Israel’s genocide; a poll by the Institute for Global Affairs released this week found, for instance, that a majority of Americans think the U.S. should stop supporting Israel or make support contingent on Israeli officials’ agreement to a ceasefire deal. This includes nearly 80 percent of Democrats.
Even though 80% of Democrats are for this kind of bill watch, the majority of Congress vote against it, including the Democrats.
We could be at the end of Bernie's second term right now if Hillary hadn't staged a hostile takeover of the DNC during the primary.
trump would have been nothing more than a dated joke from TV reruns, Covid would have been handled appropriately, pretty much everyone would be measurably better off.
Dont forget what the moderate branch stole from us, they're still the ones running shit. That's not just an expression, literally the same people from back then are still running the DNC and in the current administration, they're literally still the ones running shit.
The resolutions are not likely to pass; even if they did pass the heavily pro-Israel Congress, they would likely be vetoed by President Joe Biden, who has been insistent on sending weapons to Israel with no strings attached.
Yeah, this is an absolute shame. He tried doing something similar shortly after the genocide had started, but everyone else currently in power just shut him down almost unanimously.
If politics and getting into power wasn't 90% based on your wealth and connections, maybe US could have more people like Bernie trying to actually do good rather than trying to enrich or empower themselves.
Israel-fetishizing politicians and media: Hey! That's antisem- Oh wait... Shit.