U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, offload cargo to the Israeli military, Oct. 15, 2023, at Nevatim Air Force Base. The mission provided the Israeli military with additional resources, which included vital munitions. (Photo: U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airmen Edgar Grimaldo)
Last month, while calling into a town hall at a Vermont senior center, Bernie Sanders told attendees that he would introduce a resolution to block a $20 billion arms sale to Israel recently approved by the Biden administration.
That package, which comes atop the existing weapons deals with Israel, would begin to be delivered to the country in 2026. It includes fighter jets, air-to-air missiles, tactical vehicles, and tank cartridges.
BREAKING — @SenSanders has committed to introduce a Joint Resolution of Disapproval to block new $20B weapons sale to Israel. Activists secured this commitment at the senior center in Brattleboro, VT on Thursday. @NSC_Spox pic.twitter.com/8ovxQ1OKTo
— Action Corps (@theactioncorps) August 30, 2024
“There will be another shipment of military weapons and planes that has to come before Congress to get an approval, and I will lead the effort to try to stop that,” Sanders told Vermonters.
Sanders was essentially reiterating statements he made in July when he called for the U.S. to end its military support for the war on Gaza.
“We must end our support for Netanyahu’s war,” said Sanders at time. “Not another nickel to make this horrific situation even worse. I intend to do everything I can to block further arms transfers to Israel, including through joint resolutions of disapproval of any arms sales. The United States must not help a right-wing extremist and war criminal continue this atrocity.”
Sanders’s declarations didn’t come out of thin air. He’s faced local pressure from activists on the issue, including members of Action Corps Vermont, a social justice group that grew out of Oxfam. The organization played an important role in Congress’s 2019 passage of the Yemen War Powers Resolution.
“This is a clear demonstration of the power of everyday Americans for humanity,” Action Corps Executive Director Isaac Evans-Frantz told Mondoweiss. “President Biden’s men have been running around the Middle East ‘urging’ Prime Minister Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire. Sending $20 billion more in weapons at this moment gives up major leverage in our president’s negotiations.”
“Now we need Sen. Sanders to work with his Senate colleagues to make good on his commitment and introduce a Joint Resolution of Disapproval, to build the momentum to stop the catastrophe,” he continued. “Our senators must send a clear message to the current and next presidents that they will stand by the will of the American people.”
Support for an arms embargo
Recent polls show that a vast majority of Democratic voters want the United States to condition the military aid that it supplies to Israel.
A March 2024 Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) survey found that 52% of Americans wanted the U.S. to stop weapons shipment in order to force a ceasefire. 62% of Democratic voters agreed that “The US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza,” while only 14% disagreed with the statement.
By June these numbers increased. A survey then from CBS News/YouGov found that more than 60% of voters should not send weapons or supplies to Israel. Almost 80% of Democrats said the the U.S. shouldn’t send weapons.
Despite these polling numbers, and the horrifying death toll out of Gaza, the Biden administration has continued to supply the Israeli government with military aid throughout the ongoing, genocidal assault.
In August, the U.S. completed its 500th flight airlifting weapons to Israel since the October 7 Hamas attack. Overall, Biden has sent Netanyahu’s government more than 50,000 tons of weapons over the 11-month period.
Thus far Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has made it clear that she doesn’t plan to stray from Biden’s policy in the region.
When asked about the issue during a CNN interview last month Harris told anchor Dana Bash that she was “unequivocal” on Israel’s “right to defend itself.”
“Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, and we have got to get a deal done,” said Harris. “We were in Doha. We have to get a deal done. This war must end in the meantime, and we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out. I’ve met with the families of the American hostages. Let’s get the hostages out. Let’s get the ceasefire done.”
When pressed on whether she would stop sending weapons she told Bash, “No, we have to get a deal done.”
Not Another Bomb
The public statements of Biden and Harris haven’t stopped the movement for an arms embargo from applying pressure on the administration.
The Uncommitted Movement, which was able to mobilize more than half a million voters looking to send Biden a message on Gaza during the Democratic primaries, launched their Not Another Bomb campaign for the 2024 election season, which calls for an arms embargo on Israel.
“Adopting an arms embargo against Israel’s assault on Gaza is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic move to defeat Trump and MAGA extremism,” reads petition to Harris on the campaign’s website. “It is difficult for the Democratic candidate to champion democracy while arming Netanyahu’s authoritarian regime. Supporting Israel’s war on Gaza undermines our fight against MAGA extremism and contradicts our core values of human rights and justice.”
At last month’s Democratic National Convention, Uncommitted delegates took their message to Chicago, but DNC leadership refused to allow a Palestinian speaker to address the crowd or bring up the plight of Gaza.
This rejection generated widespread debate about whether or not effective pressure can be applied within the Democratic party.
“It’s clear that the pro-war side in our country has a whole lot of power when the first time Vice President Harris is speaking as the Democratic Party’s nominee, she talks about wanting the most lethal military in the entire world,” Uncommitted co-founder and DNC delegate Abbas Alawieh told Jacobin after the convention. “The pro-war side is working overtime, and they’re achieving this type of maximalist language from Democratic Party leadership that is out of touch with the pro-peace sentiments of the majority of Democratic voters. But it’s also clear that they’re working overtime because they’re spending more money than they ever have trying to obfuscate this issue and trying to eliminate any champions of peace or of Palestinian human rights, as they did in Cori Bush’s and Jamaal Bowman’s races.”
Stalled in Congress
It’s doubtful that Sanders’s proposed bill will find much support at the congressional level, especially in the Senate.
The few pieces of legislation that address Palestinian rights are generally ignored by most elected officials.
Rep. Betty McCollum’s (D-MN) historic 2021 bill aimed at cutting off U.S. funding for the detention of Palestinian children was only able to gather 32 cosponsors, despite a majority of Democratic voters backing the effort.
“I think the Bernie comment was good,” USCPR Manager of Policy and Advocacy Campaigns Mohammed Khader told Mondoweiss. “I think him and his team understand that the U.S. is not following its own laws, which is something that we’ve been raising for several months now.”
“Unfortunately there’s not a lot of congress members who will go public on this issue,” he added. “The $20 billion package is significant but last week we saw an American citizen murdered, probably with a rifle that was bought from the U.S. last year. Time and time we see policy actions that are taken, but the administration reverses them or walks back their initial comments and escalatory actions happen. All weapons need to be blocked, not just this $20 billion. There’s a lot more that’s needed and, frankly, the United States government hasn’t shown that they’re willing to change their policy.”
Source: mondoweiss
