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.
We love you Bernie!
Speak for yourself. I don’t love nor idolize any politician.
Call your senators. Let them know you support restricting arms to israel
This is my senator!
Call him and tell him he’s awesome!
Both of mine will tell me to go pound sand.
Schumer: lol, lmao even.
:(
Bernie on the right side of history as usual.
It’s easy to rage against the machine on a moral pedestal. It’s harder to actually steer the machine in the right direction.
To be clear, I am supportive of putting things to a vote even if there’s no chance it succeeds. Get the votes on record. I think that’s an important archive that can be used later in election season to hold politicians accountable for their votes.
I like what Bernie and AOC are doing when they push for these kinds of votes.
But make no mistake. They can only do this from a position of being unable to effect any change. Under normal conditions, moves like this poison the well and make others on both sides less willing to work with you.
They have the luxury of grandstanding specifically because they have zero hope of garnering support.
Someone like a president can’t really do something like this without completely burning their political capital.
Someone like a president can’t really do something like this without completely burning their political capital.
If only we had a president who is never going to hold office again and has nothing to lose right now… Damn our current pres is nothing like that
You realize his actions have a direct impact on Harris’ campaign… right?
Well, he was also a part of blocking the military aid to Ukraine for all those months. But this one is good
That was also good. America is not the world police.
We are also a part of nato.
Ukraine is not, objectively could not qualify before 2014 when it became good for the US war machine for them to qualify, and most importantly, NATO should’ve disbanded in 1991 when the sole reason for its existence fell.
Yeah, our country is shitty. I get the main reason the US joined the allies had more to do with politics then ideology. But least some kind of good comes from the US backing ukraine.
Also just a little slow to come around to reality like always.
Edit… Down vote all you want I’m still a big Bernie fan but the whole US government has been on the wrong side of this war from the beginning. We treat Palestinian lives just like black and brown lives at home like they didn’t matter.
Lastly Hamas is not Palestinian I can support Palestinians and condemn Hamas.
this guy has been saying this literally since the beginning
Incorrect, Sanders has been a Zionist for his career, it’s been his one split with the american left wing.
He was criticizing the response since the beginning?
Frankly I was initially supporting them, as I am against Hamas but Israel lost the objective, didn’t destroy Hamas and didn’t get hostages out. So what was all that for?
Gaining more land, that is what it was for.
And so Netanyahu can avoid criminal prosecution.
Frankly I was initially supporting them,
Must be new to the long history of apartheid, genocidal, capitalist project that is “Israel”…
You don’t know what you’re talking about
And doing so in a way that is going to accomplish almost nothing while antagonizing and alienating the people who would let him otherwise get positive legislature passed.
For those who don’t know (there are probably a few) Bernie is Jewish, and his opinions better reflect the rest of us Jews than the crazies on the right (and left) and in Israel. I don’t have stats, but every American Jew I’ve talked to about this has been morally outraged and frankly mortified by Israel’s actions. We understand how it looks to the rest of the world. Don’t let the antisemitism arguments (usually pushed by Christians btw) fool you. Bernie is on the right side of this issue, as usual.
I realize this is very sensitive issue and things have likely changed since april, but the last time I saw this polled Jewish Americans support Israel’s response to Oct.7 about 62%, 33% oppose
Granted, since april and just off the top of my head, Israel has bombed a number of Gaza refugee camps, killed the Hamas negotiator, conducted two terror attacks against Lebanon, and now is talking about sending ground troops in across the border,… so… yea maybe things have changed
But im glad to have Sanders pushing for this though, I think it carries more weight coming from him.
Ugh that’s shameful, and super disappointing. But thanks, I hadn’t seen a poll on American Jews as recent as April so I’d bet those numbers haven’t changed much. Seems the Jews I’m around have a very different relationship with Israel than the majority.
I kinda hope it has changed since then, but probably not as much as I’d like.
It’s the Christian zionists here in the US that support this genocide because they think it will help expedite the end of the world
For reference, see New Apostolic Reformation and Seven Mountains
Shit is beyond crazy and terrifying.
The (Seven Mountain Mandate) movement was generally supportive of the presidency of Donald Trump, with member Paula White becoming Trump’s spiritual advisor. White claimed that Trump “will play a critical role in Armageddon as the United States stands alongside Israel in the battle against Islam.”
Fucking crazy shit, these people are insane and are actively trying to destroy the planet.
Fellow American Jew here. Very much agreed. Israel doesn’t represent us, even if it tries to say it does.
Texan Jew here. I’m surrounded by a sea of monsters.
I’ve made documentaries, art projects, and memorials for family members who were in the Holocaust. A few survived (literally, like, 3 of them), but multitudes more were killed. My family and community has praised me for my passionate interest and attempts to teach younger generations the dangers of complacency and compartmentalizing. One of my relatives even helped pass a law adding Holocaust Remembrance Week as part of the curriculum for every grade level in Texas.
We’ve seen this kind of destruction before, we’ve lived this oppression and violence before. We have discussed how our family might have changed had over 90% of them not been killed.
HOW THE FUCK IS MY FAMILY AND COMMUNITY OKAY WITH ANOTHER GENOCIDE???
The self-delusion, what-abouts, stereotypes, and straight-up racist insults.
“They’d kill us if given the opportunity”
YOU’RE ALREADY KILLING THEM“These are really bad, violent people”
THEY ARE CHILDREN AND CIVILIANS AND THEY ARE DYING“It’s not comparable to the Holocaust. Germany killed 6 million…”
THAT’S YOUR FUCKING CUTOFF???
WE GOTTA WAIT FOR 6 MILLION PEOPLE TO DIE BEFORE WE CAN EMPATHIZE WITH VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE??? Where was this sense of calm and nonchalance when Nazis were posting propaganda around town? How many of your kids need to be dismembered and vaporized before you say “this is more than upsetting, this is WRONG”??!
I swear, I’m probably less than a month away from hearing someone I once respected say “the Palestinian cries out in pain as they hit you.”
“It’s not comparable to the Holocaust. Germany killed 6 million…”
There are fewer than 6 million people in all of Palestine. If that’s their cutoff, they can eradicate everyone and “it still wouldn’t be as bad.” That’s probably their thought process.
Texan
Well there’s your problem
Omfg I feel you so hard on this with a few people, but am fortunate to not be in Texas.
“Never again,” my ass. Those types of people mean only “never again for me and mine.” Genocide is genocide is genocide, regardless of whether we’re the victim or not.
Israel learned the wrong lesson from the Holocaust. They decided that the next time somebody gets stepped on, they’re going to be the boot, not the bug.
Another American Jew chiming in. Israel has never represented me. I’m from Indiana. I have far more in common with a Palestinian-American from Tuscon, Arizona than I do any Jew in Haifa.
i sorta inferred this about american jews because doesn’t israel give economic incentives to jewish people moving to israel? so the fact that you don’t live in israel says something
Ever thus to ethno nationalism.
This makes sense, because this isn’t an Israeli or Jewish endeavor. It’s Benjamin Netanyahu desperately provoking a war to maintain his grip on power, because as soon as he’s out of power he will have to be held accountable for his many crimes. Bibi would rather die in office than face that. It’s truly regrettable that his actions have soured the entire world’s opinion on Israel, but here we are.
The state of Israel in its inception was colonisation, apartheid, massacre, white supremacy, and genocide. Netanyahu is certainly a monster. But look at the rest of his cabinet. Listen to an interview with Israeli citizens even before October 7th in the way they speak about Palestinians and Arabs.
Israel is thoroughly and consistently sick from beginning to end, top to bottom. It’s a depraved machine of terror that runs on the blood of innocent people.
Netanyahu is to blame for making the situation worse, and for actively working against a ceasefire, but I think it’s important to point out that the majority of Israelis appear to support his actions in Gaza. It’s definitely an Israeli issue and a Netanyahu issue.
Zionism has been a thing before bibi
Bernie is always on top of these things, and you have to respect him for that.
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.
Even though 80% of Democrats are for this kind of bill watch, the majority of Congress vote against it, including the Democrats.
Good, force them to vote on it so we can see who supports genocide.
Goes to show Republicans (more so of course) and Democrats represent their donors more than the ppl who vote for them
We don’t even exist to them.
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.
Yeah, this is an absolute shame. He tried doing something similar shortly after the genocide had started, but everyone else currently in power just shut him down almost unanimously.
If politics and getting into power wasn’t 90% based on your wealth and connections, maybe US could have more people like Bernie trying to actually do good rather than trying to enrich or empower themselves.
AIPAC buying American politicians to ensure support for the war continues. Pretty fucked that a foreign nation state can buy US policies like this. Honestly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often, and more brazenly - it is “legal” after all.
America has the best politicians money can buy
If that were true, they would cost way more to buy.
the money is a token, you don’t have to pay tax on gifts and favors.
We could be at the end of Bernie’s second term right now if Hillary hadn’t staged a hostile takeover of the DNC during the primary.
trump would have been nothing more than a dated joke from TV reruns, Covid would have been handled appropriately, pretty much everyone would be measurably better off.
Dont forget what the moderate branch stole from us, they’re still the ones running shit. That’s not just an expression, literally the same people from back then are still running the DNC and in the current administration, they’re literally still the ones running shit.
Oh yes, timeline 4861707079. I do enjoy that one, shame about the gazelles going extinct though.
Part of the recipe for far right fascists to rise to power requires liberals’ “compromise.”
The reason HRC won the primary is that she got 17 million votes and Sanders only got 13 million.
…because the media and DNC conspired to make Bernie look like he was a crazy person who had no chance (basically the opposite of what they do for Trump). They used classic “tail wagging the dog” tactics to gaslight the left, downplay Bernie’s support, and coronate Hillary.
If they hadn’t been actively sabatoging him the entire fucking time he had an excellent chance.
Are you saying that the DNC has mind control powers over 4 million Americans, making them vote for Hillary despite themselves?
Because if that were true, Hillary would be president.
This is such a deeply bad faith argument but, yea, that’s what advertising is and several media outlets coordinated with the campaign to box out Sanders and portray his ideas as fringe.
I mean, what you’re describing is simply politics. Who gave you the idea that media are supposed to stay neutral in an election?
When the Michigan Chronicle and Houston Defender endorse Harris and say Trump is dangerous to democracy, that’s politics. On the opposite side, Fox News has been portraying all Democrats as fringe for decades. They are not merely allowed to do that, that’s what we expect the media to do in a democracy.
Media is supposed to be neutral and was until the 90s. Media is not supposed to take any particular side. You’re confusing the medias right and responsibility to criticize government with extreme bias against part of government.
That’s not true. Media have been endorsing and supporting particular candidates since the beginning.
One hundred years ago, the NYT endorsed John Davis for president over Calvin Coolidge. They weren’t neutral.
I don’t disagree - the media does have an implicit bias… but rarely do they cooperate directly with a campaign. Donna Brazile was fired over how overt it got.
The Sanders/Clinton primary was an example of how powerful dark money can be in campaigns and is a terrible portent of how centrists can create an uneven playing field where money rather than policy or appeal will dictate the winner.
I’d clarify that nothing the Clinton campaign did was illegal - but they absolutely prevented us from having a fair election.
And how was it that Hillary and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz ensured this was the voting outcome?
Hillary won her voters by campaigning. That is how you win voters.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz had nothing to do with it, because she doesn’t have a mind control device.
Except she didn’t campaign in most states, hence her loss in even democrat leaning swing states in the general election.
Do you truly believe that money has no influence in politics?
Money is a necessary part of politics. Which means that if you want to win, you need donors. And if your opponent wins over more donors than you do, that’s on you. Do you think it’s unfair that people are way more willing to donate to Harris than Trump?
You literally just said: the people with the most money should control the government.
No, that’s not what I said.
Money provides an advantage, but so do many other things like media endorsements, union endorsements, incumbency, etc.
Plenty of candidates who outspent their opponents went on to lose their elections.
No but vote blue no matter who amirite.
No possible way another lunatic will replace Trump by next election, he’s just a one of a kind republican candidate totally nor representative of a systemic problem.
Who do you think people here should vote for in November?
Harris - because Trump is a fucking disaster… that doesn’t mean the DNC is beyond criticism though.
Absolutely.
Just imagine: we could’ve had this guy as president for the last 4-8 years…
File that one behind the what-if of a Gore Presidency. We keep missing the alternate timelines we should have taken. Here’s hoping we don’t screw up once again.
Imagine a back-to-back two term each Gore then Bernie presidency. We’d be living in a utopia, and I’m not even American
Billions of dollars and weapons to Urkaine! Yes!
Billions of dollars and weapons to Israel! NO!!!
LOL
Demonstrating a complete lack of awareness: priceless.
One of these things is not like the others…
I’m glad he’s giving me a chance to have yet another demonstration of how shitty our country is. Can’t wait to see this fail miserably and anyone who votes for it lose their re-election.
He knows it won’t pass, the article says it too. That’s not the point.
Yes, I know it won’t pass, too. I just hate being constantly reminded that this country is ruled by violent idiots.
inb4 AIPAC makes a hit list of everyone who votes for this
We coulda had the OG and instead they chose HRC. SMH
