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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is planning to soon force a vote on legislation seeking to block over $650 million in arms sales to Israel as it slaughters civilians across the Middle East, including in its joint war on Iran with the U.S.
The joint resolutions of disapproval, first reported by Politico, seek to block the sales of 5,000 “defense articles” relating to 250-pound bombs; 10,000 500-pound bombs; and 12,000 1,000-pound bombs. Together, these sales total $659 million in value.
The resolutions address sales announced by the Trump administration earlier this month, about a week after the start of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran. Administration officials bypassed Congress for the sale after the State Department said that Secretary Marco Rubio supposedly determined that there was an “emergency” that required the administration to go around Congress to expedite the sale.
Joint resolutions of disapproval can be brought as a privileged motion on the floor after a period of five or 10 days after introduction in the Senate. They only need a simple majority vote to pass.
“Given the horrific destruction that Israel’s extremist government has wrought on Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, the last thing in the world that American taxpayers need to do right now is to provide 22,000 new bombs to the Netanyahu government,” Sanders said in a statement. “No more weapons to support an illegal war.”
The resolutions are cosponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), and Peter Welch (D-Vermont).
“Trump not only disregarded Congressional authority to declare this war, he’s now bypassing Congress by invoking an emergency authority to supply additional bombs to this war, a crisis of his own making,” said Van Hollen in a statement. “Congress must use all the tools at our disposal to end Trump’s war, including stopping the transfer of over $658 million of taxpayer-funded bombs to the Netanyahu government.”
The Trump administration also bypassed Congress to send Israel over $6.5 billion in weapons and military equipment to Israel in January, as Trump was issuing threats to attack Iran while sending officials to negotiate a deal with Iranian officials.
Sanders’s previous attempts to block arms sales to Israel have failed. His latest attempt, last July, garnered only 24 votes for a resolution to stop the sales of munitions, and 27 votes for a resolution against the transfer of assault rifles. The resolutions respectively garnered 17 and 16 Democratic “no” votes, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York).
His latest push comes as Israel is slaughtering civilians and carrying out strikes on multiple fronts. Israeli forces are continuing their genocide in Gaza, and have killed at least 630 Palestinians since the ceasefire began last October.
The death toll of Israel’s escalation in Lebanon since March 2, meanwhile, surpassed 1,000 people on Thursday. And the U.S. and Israel have killed at least 1,400 people in Iran, according to the health ministry. Human rights group HRANA says it assesses that 1,369 civilians have been killed. The war on Iran is sparking chaos and uncertainty as it causes gas and other prices to spike, disrupting economies worldwide.
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