US Senate Rejects Resolutions to Block Arms Sales to Israel Amid Ongoing Assaults, Including in Gaza and Lebanon
Washington (QNN)- The US Senate blocked on Wednesday two resolutions that would have stopped the sale of some $450 million in bombs and bulldozers to Israel, amid the assaults on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
A decades-long tradition of strong bipartisan support for Israel in the US Congress means resolutions to stop weapons sales are unlikely to pass, but backers hope raising the issue will stop Israel and the US from committing crimes.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, forced votes on the resolutions, saying the sales violate criteria for foreign assistance in the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act.
The first resolution would have prohibited the $295 million sale of D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, parts and other support. The vote was 59 to 40 against advancing the measure.
Seven Democrats voted with every Republican against advancing the resolution of disapproval of the bulldozer sale. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming did not vote.
The second would have prohibited the $151.8 million sale of 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose 1,000-pound "dumb" bombs and related logistics and technical support services.
Eleven Democrats joined every Republican to block the measure by 63 to 36. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina did not vote.
“That shift reflects where the American people are,” Sanders said in a statement late on Wednesday.
“Americans, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or independents, want to see our tax money invested in improving lives here at home – not used to kill innocent women and children in the Middle East and put American troops in harm’s way as part of Netanyahu’s illegal wars of expansion.”
“What’s astonishing is that, despite overwhelming opposition across this country, Republicans continue to side with Netanyahu and Trump,” Sanders added.
Israel uses the bombs in attacks on Gaza and Lebanon and uses the bulldozers to demolish homes in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank, Sanders noted.
"The United States must use the leverage we have - tens of billions in arms and military aid - to demand that Israel ends these atrocities," he said, urging support for the resolutions.
In July, two resolutions that would have blocked arms sales in response to civilian casualties in Gaza were also blocked in the Senate. Also introduced by Sanders, they failed by 73 to 24 and 70 to 27 in the 100-member chamber.
“Let us be clear: given the horrific and illegal behavior of the Netanyahu government over the last three years, the American people have had enough. Support for Israel in this country has plummeted,” Sanders said before the vote, citing a Pew Research Center survey released this month finding that 80% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans view the country negatively.
“Maybe, just maybe, the Senate should start listening to their constituents and not just to the wealthy individuals who fund Aipac,” he continued. “And that is what today’s vote is all about.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this month said she would “not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and US law”. Fellow progressive Ro Khanna endorsed that approach in an interview with Zeteo, saying: “I do believe Iron Dome is important in terms of saving lives. Israel can buy it with their own money.”
On Monday, dozens of people were arrested at a protest held 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’s resolutions.
On Wednesday, both senators opposed the measures, in line with their previous votes.
Last week, a coalition of progressive groups including Indivisible, MoveOn, J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace sent senators a letter urging them to support halting weapons sales, casting it as “an opportunity to send a clear message that senators oppose any continuation of the war with Iran.”
They described the sale of the 1,000lb bombs as raising “urgent legal and moral concerns”, saying the munitions had been used “in densely populated areas in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, with significant documented civilian casualties”.
The bulldozers, the groups write, “have been widely used in operations involving large-scale demolition of homes, civilian infrastructure, and entire neighborhoods in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, contributing to forced displacement and de facto annexation”.
Separately, Senate Democrats forced a vote on a war powers resolution that would prevent Trump from continuing the attack against Iran on Wednesday, but it was voted down by Republicans.
