Joining his progressive allies in the House, Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday is planning to introduce a resolution of disapproval against the Biden administration’s proposed sale of advanced weaponry to the Israeli government, which continues to unleash deadly airstrikes on the occupied Gaza Strip amid global calls for a cease-fire.
“At a moment when U.S.-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a congressional debate,” Sanders told the Washington Post in a statement ahead of the official release of his resolution.
“The message to the Biden administration is powerful and clear: unconditional support to Israel is wrong.”
—Jamil Dakwar, ACLU Human Rights Program
The Senate measure—which, under the International Security and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, must receive a vote—aims to block the pending U.S. sale of $735 million worth of Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions and Small Diameter Bombs that humanitarian groups warn would be used against civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories.
During Israel’s latest bombardment of Gaza, U.S.-made bombs and aircraft have been deployed to obliterate a building housing media offices and kill dozens of Palestinian civilians.
Sanders’ resolution will come shortly after a group of House progressives led by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) introduced a measure on Wednesday to block the proposed arms sale, which the Biden administration unveiled to Congress on May 5.
“The United States should not be rubber-stamping weapons sales to the Israeli government as they deploy our resources to target international media outlets, schools, hospitals, humanitarian missions, and civilian sites for bombing,” Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday. “We have a responsibility to protect human rights.”
To pass, resolutions of disapproval must receive simple-majority support in both chambers. But even if the measures clear both the House and Senate—an unlikely prospect, given the unwavering support Israel enjoys from much of Congress—President Joe Biden would still be able to use his veto power to push the arms sale through.
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