On Wednesday, Sanders introduced six resolutions blocking six sales of different weapons contained within the $20 billion weapons deal announced by the Biden administration in August. The sales include many of the types of weapons that Israel has used in its relentless campaign of extermination in Gaza over the past year.

“Sending more weapons is not only immoral, it is also illegal. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act lay out clear requirements for the use of American weaponry – Israel has egregiously violated those rules,” said Sanders. “There is a mountain of documentary evidence demonstrating that these weapons are being used in violation of U.S. and international law.”

This will be the first time in history that Congress has ever voted on legislation to block a weapons sale to Israel, as the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project pointed out. This is despite the U.S. having sent Israel over $250 billion in military assistance in recent decades, according to analyst Stephen Semler, as Israel has carried out ethnic cleansings and massacres across Palestine and in Lebanon.

The resolutions are not likely to pass; even if they did pass the heavily pro-Israel Congress, they would likely be vetoed by President Joe Biden, who has been insistent on sending weapons to Israel with no strings attached.

However, Sanders’s move is in line with public opinion. Polls have consistently found that the majority of the public supports an end to Israel’s genocide; a poll by the Institute for Global Affairs released this week found, for instance, that a majority of Americans think the U.S. should stop supporting Israel or make support contingent on Israeli officials’ agreement to a ceasefire deal. This includes nearly 80 percent of Democrats.

  • @lennybird
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    794 months ago

    Fun fact: Sanders consistently out-performed Hillary in head-to-head matchups against Trump.

    The same establishment that derailed Sanders and propped Hillary up were the same ones trying to force Biden down our throats while castigating any dissent.*

    *I know the progressives supported Biden until the end, but this was purely a strategic reason where if anything, their calls for Biden to step aside might’ve had the opposite effect.

    • @Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In
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      -44 months ago

      Yes. 2016 was rock paper scissors for elections

      How much did Bernie outperform Trump? Do you have links to hand?

    • @Cryophilia
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      -644 months ago

      Fun fact: your guy lost, get over it

      • @lennybird
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        4 months ago

        Whew, more salt than the dead sea.

        So long as you learned from your mistake, little buddy :)

        Say here’s another fun fact! More Sanders supporters would go on to support Hillary than did Hillary supporters go on to support Obama in 2008 when she lost the primaries.

        Guess they didn’t get over it :(

        • @Cryophilia
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          -274 months ago

          Holy fuck that’s a level of disingenuous worthy of Trump himself. You’re comparing absolute numbers instead of percentages? Oldest bullshitting trick in the book.

          • @lennybird
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            164 months ago

            You’re saying there were more Sanders supporters in 2016 than Hillary supporters in 2008? Yeah… That’s not exactly helping your argument.

            But anyway: 15% of Hillary supporters voted for Mccain; 12% of Sanders supporters voted for Trump.

            But don’t worry, I’ll be voting Harris.

        • @Cryophilia
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          -184 months ago

          Correct. And we’re over it.

          • @orrk
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            114 months ago

            IDK man, that comment you made wasn’t very high in terms of over it energy.

            • @Cryophilia
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              -84 months ago

              Hillary is gone, dude, we’re not constantly bringing up the glory days of what could have been.

              • @orrk
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                04 months ago

                but you did

                • @Cryophilia
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                  14 months ago

                  No, I literally didn’t. Someone else did.

      • @forrcaho
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        144 months ago

        I don’t often downvote comments, as I think that often that’s just a censorious way to say “I disagree”. But this comment so obviously adds nothing of value to the conversation, and indeed poisons it with petty grievance. So I feel totally justified in downvoting this comment.