WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing several resolutions that would stop more than $20 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel, a longshot effort but the most substantive pushback yet from Congress over the devastation in Gaza ahead of the first year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war.
In a letter to Senate colleagues on Wednesday, Sanders said the U.S. cannot be “complicit in this humanitarian disaster.” The action would force an eventual vote to block the arms sales to Israel, though majority passage is highly unlikely.
“Much of this carnage in Gaza has been carried out with U.S.-provided military equipment,” Sanders, I-Vt., wrote.
As the war grinds toward a second year, and with the outcome of President Joe Biden’s efforts to broker a cease-fire deal and hostage release uncertain, the resolutions from Sanders would seek to reign in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assault on Gaza. The war has killed some 41,000 people in Gaza after the surprise Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, and abducted 250 others, with militants still holding around 100 hostages.
While it’s doubtful the politically split Senate would pass the measures, the move is designed to send a message to the Netanyahu regime that its war effort is eroding the U.S.'s longtime bipartisan support for Israel. Sanders said he is working with other colleagues on the measures.
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Under the Senate rules, once Sanders introduces the resolutions next week, he can force a vote almost instantly for consideration. The measures are being proposed as a joint resolution of disapproval of the arms sales, which is a mechanism that allows congressional oversight of foreign affairs.
Sanders said he would have some backing for his proposal. But it is not expected to have support from a majority, 51 votes, in the Senate to pass.
In the House, blocking the Israeli arms sales would face even tougher odds, where Republicans hold the majority, and have largely sided with Netanyahu’s approach to the war with Hamas.
The question is how you see this move.
One very politically useful spin would be to say that Bernard is a fundamentally humane congressperson who simply could not fight the entirety of the US estabilishment and AIPAC. After all he’s only one guy.
Or you might say that Sanders is simply the latest liberal who gets the spotlight of powerlessness. American politics the way it is disciplines the center left, liberal and left voters with a series of rotations. A rotating villain to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (Sinema, Manchin), a rotating hero to protest and take exception at the atrocities of Empire - but who is ultimately unable to change any policy because policies are not up for election.
Now I don’t believe the latter. At least not entirely. But I can see why someone might. Bernie was as bloodthirsty and pro Israel as anyone in Congress was expected to be. And the reason why I think that was the case was simply because he’s a politician and there’s literally no room for maneuver in the US political sphere when it comes to Israel.
So there’s no baby to throw out with the bathwater. It’s business as usual. The best case scenario here would be that some very timid factions in the US State are using a jewish congressman to signal that Israel is going too far. That’s the best you can expect from US foreign policy.