WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to reject three efforts by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have blocked a certain attack. Arms sales to Israel.
The resolutions were met with bipartisan opposition and were not expected to pass.
Sanders, I-Vt., sponsored three separate resolutions that were reset differently types of weapons: a type of guidance kit often attached to tank shells, mortar rounds and bombs dropped on Gaza. The resolutions failed, with 78, 79, and 80 senators voting against three separate attempts.
Sanders he said X Before the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “violating international and US laws that violate human rights and block humanitarian aid.”
Speaking on the Senate floor before the vote, Sanders argued that the resolutions would “not affect any of the systems that Israel uses to defend itself against incoming attacks,” instead focusing on offensive weapons.
“I have said many times: Israel, like any other country, had the right to respond to this terrible attack by Hamas. I don’t think anyone here in the US Senate disagrees with that,” he said. floor speech. “However, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist government did not just wage a war against Hamas, it waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people.”
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., voted in favor of the resolutions asdefinition “The US strategy of giving the Netanyahu government a blank check for assault weapons cannot continue.”
“No nation, not even a close ally like Israel, has the right to receive military aid from the United States without complying with US and international law,” he added.
Senator Martin Heinrich, DN.M. also voted in favor of the resolutions and said that “if we look at the way special weapons are used and their extraordinary damage, de-escalation of the war cannot happen.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., was the only senator to vote “present” on each resolution. “These resolutions are not the solution,” he said in a statement.
“I abstained because neither a yes nor a no vote reflects my goals of both supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and protecting innocent Palestinian lives,” the statement said.
Other Democrats voted against the resolutions.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. X said he said he would “always stand proudly in support of our strongest ally.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said likewise In X “Israel is our ally in the Middle East and we must do everything we can to help it defend itself.”
Every republican who participated in the voting also voted against the resolutions.
“While Israel is being attacked on all fronts, it should not be attacked in the halls of Congress,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. he said X.
“Limiting Israel’s ability to defend itself helps its enemies,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., wrote in another op-ed. post about X.
Anti-war progressive during presidential campaign rnaturally crspoke up The Biden administration’s handling of the war calls for an end to the conflict and denounces the White House’s alliance with Israel and Netanyahu.
The Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, must destroy Hamas to prevent a similar attack by Hamas. October 7, 2023 terrorist actWhen about 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped in Israel.
According to health officials in Gaza, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the densely populated enclave since the attack. The death statistics Hamas does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but health officials say more than half of those killed are women and children.