Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has moved to block President Donald Trump’s proposed $8.5 billion weapons transfer to Israel as Israeli forces have repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and Trump is pushing a plan for the permanent forced expulsion of all Palestinians in the Strip.
Last week, Sanders introduced four Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) aimed at blocking the sales. The transfer includes 2,166 small diameter bombs, 2,800 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire missiles, and tens of thousands of JDAMs and artillery shells.
These weapons have been used extensively in Israeli attacks on Gaza that experts have said are likely war crimes due to their impact on civilians, with many saying that the very use of many of these weapons on a region as densely populated as Gaza would constitute an indiscriminate attack on civilians.
In a press release, Sanders’s office said that these weapons are “directly implicated in tens of thousands of civilian deaths” and that moving forward with the sale would “clearly violate” the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has used our bombs to damage or destroy almost 70 percent of the structures in Gaza, including hundreds of schools. All of this has been done in clear violation of U.S. and international law,” Sanders said in a statement.
“With Trump and Netanyahu openly talking about forcibly displacing millions of Palestinians from Gaza — in other words, ethnic cleansing — it would be unconscionable to provide more of the bombs and weapons Israel has used to kill so many civilians and make life unlivable in Gaza,” Sanders said.
Joint Resolutions of Disapproval are privileged, meaning that Sanders can force a vote on them and they only require a simple majority vote to pass.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project said that the passage of JRDs is crucial to maintaining the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
“With both Trump and Netanyahu advocating for the resumption of Israel’s genocidal violence on Saturday, February 15, combined with the US and Israeli threat of mass ethnic cleansing, Congress must pass JRDs now to reinforce the fragile ceasefire and send a strong signal to Israel that Congress objects to a resumption of Israel’s violence and its possible ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza,” the group said in a memo.
Last year, Sanders also introduced several JRDs aimed at blocking a $20 billion sale of fighter jets, JDAMs, mortar rounds, and more, introduced by the Biden administration. Ultimately, Sanders only forced a vote on resolutions to block three of the sales, which garnered support from only about 18 senators each.
Trump bypassed Congress when proposing the sale earlier this month. According to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-New York), the Trump administration had ignored review of the sale from the Senate and House foreign relations committees when proceeding with the sale, a move made with “blatant disregard” for congressional process regarding foreign military transfers.
Meeks had put a hold on the notification for part of the transfers, which appear to be a repackaging of existing proposals originating from the Biden administration. However, the Trump administration has pushed forward with the sale regardless.
The rushing of the sale “is part and parcel of the administration’s utter disregard for Congress as a co-equal branch of government,” IMEU Policy Project said, citing Elon Musk’s current power grab. “Congress must pass JRDs now as part of a broader attempt to reassert Congressional authority against an administration bent on undermining constitutional checks and balances.”
Trump’s proposed sale comes as Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Palestinian officials say, conducting attacks in the Strip and blocking the entry of crucial supplies like shelter. Most recently, Israel has suspended the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners that it was supposed to free this weekend — a move that spurred Hamas officials to accuse Netanyahu of “intentionally sabotaging” the talks in order to resume its assault when the first phase of the ceasefire ends on March 1.
Some commentators have said that Israel is continuing to deprive Palestinians of basic needs in order to push them to flee Gaza. This would advance Trump’s plan of total ethnic cleansing of Gaza, which has been embraced by Israeli officials.
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