Senate defeats effort led by Bernie Sanders to block planned US arms sales to Israel

CNN
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The Senate on Wednesday voted down an effort led by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders to block a series of planned US weapons sales to Israel.

The failure of the long-shot effort highlights that despite criticism from the left that the Biden administration and Israel are not doing enough to protect civilians in Gaza, there remains widespread bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for US military assistance to Israel.

The Senate votes come as scrutiny over US support for Israel’s war against Hamas has intensified as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has grown worse amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign. The US is Israel’s biggest military supplier.

The war, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack, has raged for more than a year, killing at least 43,000 people, according to the Gazan health ministry. Efforts to secure a ceasefire and release of the Israel hostages held by Hamas have floundered, but there is more optimism about securing an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“What is happening in Gaza today is unspeakable,” Sanders said at a press conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “What makes it even more painful is that much of what is happening there has been done with US weapons and with American taxpayer support. The United States of America is complicit in these atrocities. That complicity must end and that is what these resolutions are about.”

Sanders, who is Jewish, said that “Israel clearly had a right to respond to the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7,” but criticized the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war.

The White House actively lobbied against the effort to block the arms sales.

“We strongly oppose this resolution and we have made our position clear to interested Senators,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told CNN in a statement.

The Senate votes highlighted an issue that has provoked contentious debate within the Democratic Party. But the effort was unable to advance in the waning days of the Biden administration and the current Senate Democratic majority.

President-elect Donald Trump, who returns to the White House in January, has already announced a strong defender of Israel as his pick for US ambassador to Israel – former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who once argued that there was “no such thing as a Palestinian.” The House and Senate will also be in Republican hands starting in January, giving Trump a GOP government trifecta to carry out his agenda.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell urged his colleagues not to support the resolutions ahead of the votes.

“Those who mourn senseless human suffering should have no trouble assigning blame to the terrorists who exploit civilians, schools, hospitals and mosques as cover,” he said in Senate floor remarks on Tuesday. “I hope the Senate will reject the senator’s resolutions outright.”

The Senate failed to advance three separate measures – known as resolutions of disapproval – aimed at halting certain arms sales announced by the Biden administration in August.

A resolution to block a sale of tank rounds was rejected by a vote of 18 to 79. A second resolution to block a sale of high-explosive mortar rounds was rejected by a vote of 19 to 78, and a third resolution to block a sale of joint direct attack munitions, otherwise known as JDAMS, was rejected by a vote of 17 to 80.

The resolutions were backed by a group of independent and Democratic senators.

“The sales of JDAMS and 120mm tank rounds are particularly concerning, given their indiscriminate use in Gaza,” a fact sheet released by Sanders’ office stated. “These systems account for many of the 40,534 deaths and nearly 94,000 injuries in Gaza so far – 60 percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. Reliable human rights monitors have documented numerous incidents involving these systems leading to unacceptable civilian death and harm.”

CNN and others have reported on Israel’s use of US-made munitions, including JDAMS, in incidents that killed dozens of Palestinians.

Pro-Palestinian advocacy groups argued that the Senate votes were significant despite their failure and marked a shift for the Democratic Party.

“Today’s first-ever vote to block weapons to Israel, through the leadership of Sen. Bernie Sanders, shows Democrats are starting to learn the lessons of this election and beginning to listen to their own voters,” Hamid Bendaas, a spokesperson for the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group, said in a statement.

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Ted Barrett, Jennifer Hansler and Sam Fossum contributed reporting.