Bernie Sanders’ effort to block US weapons sales to Israel fails in Senate | Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders led an unsuccessful effort Wednesday to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel, but the votes revealed a growing appetite among Democrats to limit arms transfers to the United States, a longtime U.S. ally.

This is the fourth time Sanders, an independent member who caucuses with Senate Democrats, has forced the Senate to consider resolutions cutting military aid to Israel; all of these resolutions were rejected by the Republican majority in the House and many Democrats.

But on Wednesday, 40 Senators supported a resolution introduced by Sanders that would block the sale of $295 million bulldozers, and 36 members voted for a second resolution that would halt the sale of 12,000 1,000 lb bombs to the Israeli military for $151.8 million.

Last April, during the current Congress, only 15 of the group’s 47 members supported similar measures; but in July another group of 27 members supported the decision. The rising numbers reflect shifting sentiment toward Israel among House Democrats, who are grappling with negative attitudes among their voters over Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct in his occupations of Gaza and southern Lebanon and his cooperation with Donald Trump in the conflict with Iran.

“But being a staunch friend of Israel does not mean agreeing with all the decisions of the Government of Israel or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just as US patriotism does not require unquestioning agreement with the policy decisions of President Donald Trump and his administration,” California senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla said in a joint statement after voting in favor of the resolutions. he said. Both had previously voted against the measure.

Speaking before the vote, Sanders described the effort as an opportunity for Congress to “stand up to” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), which has spent tens of millions of dollars to influence races ahead of the 2024 US elections and continues to spend heavily ahead of the November midterm elections.

“Let’s be clear: Given the egregious and illegal behavior of the Netanyahu government over the last three years, the American people are fed up. Support for Israel in this country has plummeted,” he said, citing the Pew Research Center. questionnaire The report published this month revealed that 80 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of Republicans viewed the country negatively.

“Maybe, just maybe, the Senate should start listening to its own constituents and not just the wealthy individuals who finance Aipac,” he continued. “And that’s what today’s vote is about.”

There has been sentiment among some progressive lawmakers in the House of Representatives to cut off all military aid to Israel, including defensive weapons such as the Iron Dome missile shield.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said earlier this month that she “will not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and U.S. law.” Fellow progressive Ro Khanna endorsed this approach in an interview. Zeteo“I believe the Iron Dome is important to save lives. Israel can buy it with its own money,” he said.

Groups opposed to Israel’s policies have increased pressure on Democrats to support the resolutions. On Monday, dozens of people were arrested at a protest outside the New York City offices of senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat. Protesters urged them to vote in favor of Sanders’ resolutions.

Both senators on Wednesday opposed the measures, consistent with their previous votes.

Last week, a coalition of progressive groups including Indivisible, MoveOn, J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace sent a letter to senators urging them to support a halt on arms sales, calling it “an opportunity to send a clear message that senators oppose any continuation of war with Iran.”

Stating that the sale of 1000 lb bombs would cause “urgent legal and moral concerns”, the authorities said that the ammunition was “used in densely populated areas of Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and serious civilian casualties have been documented”. Bulldozers “are widely used in operations involving large-scale destruction of homes, civilian infrastructure, and entire neighborhoods in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, contributing to forced displacement and de facto annexations,” the groups write.

Separately, Senate Democrats on Wednesday forced a vote on a war powers resolution that would prevent Trump from resuming hostilities against Iran, but that resolution was rejected by Republicans. The party used such votes as a pressure tactic to launch a war against the administration. surveys show He is not liked by the public.

Democratic senator Chris Coons of Delaware said in a statement after voting against Sanders’ effort that he supports the war powers resolution “to end President Trump’s preferred war with Iran” but “cannot abandon our staunch ally Israel and the Americans living within its borders.”

“My votes should neither be perceived as an endorsement of the actions of the Netanyahu government nor as an abandonment of the state of Israel, the Jewish people, or U.S.-Israel relations,” he said.