Bernie Sanders and Democrats attempt to block some weapons for Israel over Gaza deaths

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders forced an effort in the Senate on Wednesday to block the sale of some offensive weapons to Israel for its war on Gaza over mounting civilian deaths there.

The Vermont lawmaker and a small group of Democrats put legislation up for a Senate vote that would block the sale of some tank and mortar rounds and smart-bomb kits to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people,” Sanders told lawmakers from the Senate floor.

Known as joint resolutions of disapproval, the measure would have to pass both houses of Congress and withstand any presidential veto to become binding. Congress has never succeeded in blocking any arms sales with the joint resolutions. But the vote served as a test of broader frustration among Democrats at the war and President Joe Biden’s handling of relations with Israel .

Lawmakers’ move comes after a 30-day Biden administration deadline came and went earlier this month for Netanyahu to meet specific U.S. targets to improve its treatment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza trapped in the war. U.S. demands included that Israel lift a near-total ban on delivery of aid to hard-hit north Gaza for starving civilians there.

Humanitarian crisis

Leading global aid organisations say Israel, which is heavily dependent on U.S. arms and military aid, fell far short of meeting the U.S. demand to allow in an adequate number of aid trucks, and in some other ways worsened conditions for civilians.

That includes Israeli lawmakers newly banning the main U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians.

U.N. officials said as the end of the U.S. deadline neared that the entire population of north Gaza is now at imminent risk of dying from famine, airstrikes or other threats.

“We would expect that there be some consequences when things get even worse,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in the run-up to the vote on the measures. Fellow Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont also joined Sanders in the appeal.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor that he will “strongly oppose” the measures.

“Israel needs to protect itself not just today, but also tomorrow and next year and beyond,” Schumer said. “It has been a cornerstone of American policy to give Israel the resources it needs to defend against its enemies. We should not stray from that policy today.”

Sen. Ben Cardin, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, read what he said was a message from the White House urging lawmakers to defeat the measures.

The move to block arms to the U.S. ally came at a delicate time in Middle East cease-fire negotiations and would “put wind in the sails of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas at the worst possible moment,” Cardin quoted the White House as warning.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham also argued for defeat of the bills. “This signal will be seen by the enemies of Israel, and the enemies of peace, that if they just stick with it they will win,” he said.

Centrist and progressive Democratic lawmakers and Sanders have made repeated runs during the more than 1-year-old war at convincing the White House and Congress to condition U.S. arms shipments to Israel on improved treatment of Palestinian civilians in the offensive.

The Biden administration has increased its warnings and appeals to Netanyahu to do more to spare civilians in airstrikes and other attacks, and to allow more aid to reach Gaza. 

Israel has killed almost 44,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Palestinian ministry of health said on Wednesday. 

Sanders, on the Senate floor, said the continuing flow of U.S. arms to Israel for the war violated U.S. law and undermined U.S. standing in the world.

Other governments will say to Americans, “don’t give us advice, don’t criticise us, when you have supported the mass starvation of children with your tax dollars,” he said.

Republicans have stood firmly behind Netanyahu and will control both chambers of Congress next year as President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The U.S.’s roughly $18 billion in military support for Israel during the war was a politically divisive issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with Republicans vowing to keep up undiminished backing for Israel.

Trump has vowed strong support for Israel and has called on Netanyahu to bring the war on Gaza to a quick close. He has offered few specifics on his plans on that.