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arms trade
Citing Trump's Push for Ethnic Cleansing, Sanders Says Congress 'Must Act to Block' Arms Sales to Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has clearly violated U.S. and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Mar 27, 2025
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced Thursday he plans to force votes in the U.S. Senate next week on two joint resolutions of disapproval aimed at blocking proposed arms sales from the United States to Israel, citing U.S. President Trump's recent proposal for the Gaza Strip that human rights officials have called tantamount to ethnic cleansing, and other actions taken by Israel.
Sanders has put forward two joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs), one aimed at blocking $6.75 billion in munitions and equipment, and a second one for $2.04 billions worth of munitions and related equipment.
The Independent senator—who last fall introduced JRDs to block the sale of U.S. weapons to Israel that ultimately did not pass—argues that Congress "must act to block" the sales in part due to U.S. President Donald Trump's talk of "forcibly displacing millions of people from Gaza."
At a press conference in early February with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that the United States would "take over" Gaza and "develop it." Trump said that U.S. developers will "level it out" and build the "Riviera of the Middle East" after Palestinians—"all of them"—leave Palestine's coastal enclave.
Last week, Israel's security cabinet approved a proposal to organize "a voluntary transfer for Gaza residents who express interest in moving to third countries, in accordance with Israeli and international law, and following the vision of U.S. President Donald Trump," according to CNN.
In his statement, Sanders said that "there is a name for such a policy—ethnic cleansing—and it's a war crime."
"Netanyahu has clearly violated U.S. and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage," Sanders added.
According to researchers with Brown University's the Costs of War Project, the U.S sent at least $17.9 billion in security assistance to Israel between October 2023 and September 2024.
Sanders said that Israel has used U.S.-supplied weapons to kill "a handful of Hamas fighters, and made little effort to distinguish between civilians and combatants," resulting in unnecessary civilian deaths. "These actions are immoral and illegal," he said.
Last week, local health officials in Gaza announced that the death toll of Israel's deadly campaign on the enclave had surpassed 50,000 people. The grim milestone came after a wave of Israeli strikes that followed a two-month period of relative calm while a shaky cease-fire deal was in effect.
Hamas wanted to open talks for the second phase of the deal, that was supposed to see Israel fully withdraw from the enclave and Hamas release remaining living hostages. Israel instead wanted to impose the terms of a new cease-fire presented by the Trump administration, and refused to hold the talks regarding a permanent end to the war.
The senator also cited Israel's decision to halt humanitarian aid from entering into the Gaza Strip in early March. "Blocking humanitarian aid is morally abhorrent and a clear violation of both the Geneva Convention and the Foreign Assistance Act," according to the statement.
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'Shameful': Trump Quietly Rips Up Biden Memo Restricting Arms Sales Based on Human Rights
The decision tells the international community that "you can ignore American law with respect to the provision of humanitarian aid and the use of weapons provided by American taxpayers."
Feb 25, 2025
A memorandum aimed at restricting arms sales to protect human rights, issued by former U.S. President Joe Biden last year amid intensifying outcry over his administration's support for Israel's bombardment of Gaza, ultimately did little to stop the U.S. from continuing to back a military operation in which there is abundant evidence of war crimes.
But advocates decried President Donald Trump's decision Monday to repeal the document, National Security Memorandum-20 (NSM-20) as "shameful," warning that it sends the message that "anything goes," as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said.
Van Hollen proposed legislation last year that pushed Biden to introduce NSM-20, which required countries that receive military aid from the U.S. to provide assurances that the weapons will not be used to violate international humanitarian law.
When the memo was introduced last February, rights advocates had been warning for months that continued U.S. support for Israel violated laws that were already in place, including the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act, which restrict arms sales to countries that block humanitarian aid or otherwise break human rights laws.
The U.S. is the largest international funder of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which began bombarding Gaza in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack. Numerous reports have shown that the Israeli military has attacked Palestinian civilians indiscriminately in Gaza, with U.S. weapons used in some assaults.
At least 48,346 people have been killed in Gaza since the bombardment began. A temporary cease-fire was established in January.
Trump quietly repealed NSM-20 after approving the sale of more than $7.4 billion in arms sales to Israel earlier this month and lifting sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The president also released one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that had been frozen by the Biden administration after NSM-20 was issued last year.
Last May, Biden paused the shipment as Israel's incursion in the southern Gaza city of Rafah garnered international outcry over the danger the expanded attacks posed to the 1.5 million Palestinians who were sheltering in the city.
But that same month, the Democratic administration issued a report that was required by NSM-20 claiming that there was not enough evidence that Israel had violated international humanitarian law to end overall U.S. support for the IDF.
That assessment came days after World Food Program executive director Cindy McCain warned that Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid into Gaza had led to a "full-blown famine" in the northern part of the enclave.
The administration's continued support for Israel led some to dismiss NSM-20 as a "PR stunt" and a "gimmick."
Although NSM-20 did not stop the Biden administration from putting human rights at risk, critics warned that countries such as Israel will be even more emboldened following Trump's repeal of the memo.
The decision tells the international community that "you can ignore American law with respect to the provision of humanitarian aid and the use of weapons provided by American taxpayers," Van Hollen told The Washington Post.
Christopher Le Mon, a former State Department official under Biden, told the outlet that "the only thing the Trump administration does by eliminating NSM-20 is signal to U.S. partners that the administration simply doesn't care how these governments use U.S. arms, no matter how immoral or illegal their conduct."
Sarah Yager, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, told the Post that with NSM-20 rescinded but other laws like the Foreign Assistance Act still in place, the Trump administration must now "show the American people that [it] will abide by U.S. laws when sending weapons to allies."
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As With Biden, Sanders Aims to Torpedo Trump's Weapons Sales to Israel
The senator highlighted how much of the carnage in Gaza "has been carried out with American bombs and weapons."
Feb 24, 2025
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that he had moved to block the sale of $8.56 billion in offensive American weaponry to Israel, citing the country's deadly and destructive assault on the Gaza Strip.
The Trump administration earlier this month notified Congress that had approved four sales: $6.75 billion for joint direct attack munition (JDAM) guidance kits and thousands of small diameter and 500-pound bombs; $688 million for additional JDAM kits and small diameter bombs; $660 million for 3,000 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles; and $312.5 million for high explosive artillery shells.
"It would be unconscionable to provide more of the bombs and weapons Israel has used to kill so many civilians and make life unlivable in Gaza."
Sanders (I-Vt.)—who also battled the Biden administration's efforts to arm Israel as it waged an assault on Gaza widely decried as genocidal—revealed that he responded to the Trump approvals last week by filing joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs).
That move started a clock, giving the Senate Foreign Relations Committee just 10 calendar days to consider the JRDs, after which Sanders can force a floor vote on a motion to discharge the resolution from the panel. Both that motion and final passage would require a simple majority in the chamber, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans.
"Israel had the right to defend itself against Hamas and respond to the barbaric October 7, 2023, terrorist attack, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took over 240 hostages," Sanders said in a statement, before taking aim at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently visited with President Donald Trump at the White House.
"But Netanyahu's extremist government has instead waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people, killing more than 48,000 and injuring more than 111,000—the vast majority of whom are women and children," the senator continued. "Tragically, much of this carnage has been carried out with American bombs and weapons."
"Netanyahu has used our bombs to damage or destroy almost 70% of the structures in Gaza, including hundreds of schools," he noted. "All of this has been done in clear violation of U.S. and international law. With Trump and Netanyahu openly talking about forcibly displacing millions of Palestinians from Gaza—in other words, ethnic cleansing—it would be unconscionable to provide more of the bombs and weapons Israel has used to kill so many civilians and make life unlivable in Gaza."
Since taking office last month, Trump has not only promoted a potential U.S. takeover of Gaza and welcomed Israel's leader to Washington, D.C., but also targeted the International Criminal Court (ICC) with sanctions for issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their assault on the Palestinian territory, where a fragile cease-fire took effect last month.
Sanders previously forced three votes on JRDs about arms sales to Israel in November, when former Democratic President Joe Biden was still in the White House and Independents including the senator from Vermont gave Democrats slim control of the chamber. Only 17-19 of the Senate's 100 members supported the resolutions; none of them were Republicans.
Although those resolutions didn't advance to the House of Representatives, Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian said at the time that "never before have so many senators voted to restrict arms transfers to Israel, and we are extremely grateful to those who did. This historic vote represents a sea change in how elected Democrats feel about the Israeli military's campaign of death and destruction in Gaza."
Sanders revealed his new resolutions on the same day that U.S.-based Democracy for the Arab World Now disclosed its efforts to pressure ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan to investigate Biden and his former secretaries of defense and state, Lloyd Austin and Anthony Blinken, for "aiding and abetting" Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
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