On November 19, the United States Senate voted overwhelmingly to reject an effort to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel. Given the bipartisan support for continuing to arm Israel even as it continues over a year of genocide in Gaza, the effort led by independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, was not expected to pass. Yet the resolution, supported by a handful of progressive Senators, made a strong point of rejecting the US foreign policy status quo of unconditional support for Israel.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government has not simply waged war against Hamas—it has waged war against Palestinians,” Sanders said at a press conference held on Tuesday, a day before the Senate vote.
“Much of what’s been happening there has been done with US weapons and American taxpayer support,” Sanders said. “The United States of America is complicit in these atrocities. This complicity must end.”
The Sanders-led attempt joins the longstanding popular demand of an arms embargo on Israel. 61% of people in the US are against continued US aid to Israel. A poll from February found that most Democratic Party voters would have supported a Presidential candidate who does not back US aid to Israel. In July, seven major trade unions in the United States signed onto a letter demanding an arms embargo and that the US help secure a ceasefire in Gaza. The unions represent a total of six million workers, almost half of all unionized workers in the US.
Only 19 out of 100 Senators, including Sanders himself, voted to oppose the sale of some offensive arms to Israel. These include three out of nine Jewish Democrats in the Senate: Sanders, Jon Ossoff of Georgia, and Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
This Senate vote comes a day before the US “fundamentally” rejected the newly-issued ICC arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps,” stated the White House.
President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming US national security advisor, Michael Waltz, stated that “The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the US government… Israel has lawfully defended its people and borders from genocidal terrorists.”
Waltz added that, “You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January,” when Trump takes office.
