Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced a resolution Thursday to force a vote on whether to obstruct weapons sales to Israel since the mortal conflictbetween the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza and its neighboring state Israel rages.
The Democratic socialist seeks to stop the current sale of $735 million in weapons from the U.S. into the Israel Ministry of Defense, including Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and Small Diameter Bombs, according to the settlement .
“At a time when U.S.-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we can’t only let another huge arms sale proceed through without even a Republican argument,” Sanders said in a statement.
“I feel that the United States have to help lead the way into a peaceful and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians,” Sanders continued. “We will need to have a hard look at whether the selling of these weapons is really helping do that, or whether it’s simply fueling conflict.”
Liberal Democrats in the House, led by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., filed a similar resolution in the House on Wednesday trying to block the White House-approved sale of arms to Israel.
“The United States should not be rubber-stamping weapons sales to the Israeli authorities as they deploy our resources to target international media outlets, hospitals, schools, humanitarian missions and civilian sites for bombing,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Wednesday.
The joint resolution reflects the frustration liberal Democrats have expressed with the Biden government over not doing enough to force a cease-fire involving Israel and Hamas — the worst fighting since the 2014 war. Tlaib, the sole Palestinian-American in Congress, faced Biden personally about the tarmac in Detroit on Tuesday and participated the president in a heated conversation about doing more to protect Palestinians and taking a stronger stance on Israel.
The ongoing airstrikes have left at least 230 Palestinians dead, including 65 children and 39 women. Meanwhile, 12 people in Israel have expired, including a 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl.
President Biden told Israel on Wednesday he expected”a significant de-escalation now on the road to a cease-fire” — but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back, saying he was”determined to continue this operation until its aim is fulfilled.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sanders’ resolution. And a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., didn’t immediately provide insight into time for a potential vote. Schumer, that has been a strong supporter of Israel, said Monday he backs bipartisan calls for a cease-fire headed by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Todd Young, R-Ind.
“I want to realize a cease-firereached fast and mourn the loss of lifestyle,” Schumer told reporters Monday while falling to answer a question on whether the $735 million arms sale with Israel should go through.
The Sanders resolution expressing disapproval for those sales of weapons to Israel is privileged, so that he is going to have the option to bring this up for a vote. The Washington Post first reported on the senator’s strategies and noticed the resolution would just need a simple majority to pass the Senate and the House. But if Biden had been to veto the resolution, then it might require a two-thirds majority in both chambers to endure.
Congress hasn’t successfully blocked an arms earnings via a joint resolution of disapproval, the paper noted. Congress tried to block former President Trump’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but Trump vetoed those three settlements in 2019 and the sales worth more than $8 billion moved through.
