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arms trade
Senate—Again—Rejects Sanders' Effort to Block US Arms to Israel
"Senators had the opportunity to vote against U.S. complicity in this suffering," said one expert. "Instead, they made a choice to continue U.S. support for a bombing campaign that has made Gaza unlivable."
Apr 03, 2025
As he did during the Biden administration, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday forced votes on resolutions that would block some U.S. arms sales to Israel as it wages a devastating war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip—and as they did last November, the vast majority of his Senate colleagues from both major political parties blocked the bills.
"We're witnessing a U.S.-funded genocide, paid for by the billions with our tax dollars," Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action, said in a statement after most senators opposed the joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs) that would have prevented the transfer of $8.8 billion more in weapons.
"U.S. military funding for Israel's war crimes is not in the interests of the American people, and yet our representatives today voted to continue aiding and abetting human rights violations of the Palestinian people," Abuznaid added. "The continued failure to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes—and to instead continue providing bombs for its siege—violates human rights and international law."
Just 14 Democrats joined Sanders (I-Vt.) in voting for S. J. Res. 33 and S.J. Res. 26: Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Tim Kaine (Va.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Tina Smith (Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Peter Welch (Vt.).
For both JRDs, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) voted present, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) did not vote. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) did not vote for the first one and opposed the second. The remaining Democrats and all Republicans opposed the measures. The final tallies are slightly lower than the numbers from the trio of resolutions late last year.
"It is American bombs and American military equipment being used to destroy Gaza, kill 50,000 people, injure over 110,000 people. We cannot hide from that reality."
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Sanders took aim at the country's "corrupt" campaign finance system that stems from the U.S. Supreme Court's "disastrous" Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision in 2010. He noted that "if you are a Republican and you vote against the Trump-Musk administration in one way or another, you have got to look over your shoulder and worry that you're gonna get a call from Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world."
"If you are a Democrat, you have to worry about the billionaires who fund AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee," he explained. "If you vote against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his horrific war in Gaza, AIPAC will punish you with millions of dollars in advertisements and in other ways to see that you are defeated. AIPAC's [political action committee] and super PAC spent nearly $127 million combined during the 2023-2024 election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission."
"And I must confess that AIPAC has been successful. Last year, they defeated two members of the U.S. House who opposed providing military aid to Netanyahu's extremist government," he acknowledged, advocating for election reforms "so that we can once again become a government of the people, by the people, for the people—and not a government run by the billionaire class."
Standing before large images of bombed buildings and starving children, Sanders also laid out the necessity of his JRDs, highlighting that since the deadly October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, "Prime Minister Netanyahu's racist and extremist government has waged an all-out barbaric war against the Palestinian people and made life unlivable in Gaza."
As of Thursday, the Gaza Health Ministry put the total death toll at 50,523, with at least 114,776 wounded and thousands missing. Over 1,160 deaths and 2,700 injuries have occurred since Israel abandoned a fragile cease-fire in mid-March. Putting the war's totals into perspective, Sanders noted that it would be the equivalent of roughly 25 million Americans being killed or wounded.
The senator also emphasized Israel's destruction of Gaza's civilian infrastructure, from homes and hospitals to schools, and its restrictions on humanitarian aid throughout the war. He noted that "today, it is 31 days and counting with absolutely NO humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. Nothing. No food, no water, no medicine, no fuel, for over a month. That is as clear a violation of the Geneva Convention, the Foreign Assistance Act, and basic human decency. It is a war crime."
"You don't starve children. And it is pushing things toward an even deeper catastrophe," he continued. "And what makes it even worse, why I am here today, and why I have introduced these resolutions that we will soon be voting on, is that we, as Americans, are deeply complicit in what is happening in Gaza... We are deeply complicit in all of this death and suffering."
Sanders stressed that "last year alone, the United States provided $18 billion in military aid to Israel and delivered more than 50,000 tons of military equipment. It is American bombs and American military equipment being used to destroy Gaza, kill 50,000 people, injure over 110,000 people. We cannot hide from that reality."
Van Hollen also spoke in favor of the resolutions, while Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair James Risch (R-Idaho) spoke out against them—and said that just before walking into the chamber, he was handed a paper detailing President Donald Trump's opposition to the measures.
As Common Dreams has reported, since taking office in January, Trump has sanctioned the International Criminal Court, citing its November arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister; welcomed the Israeli leader to the White House; and proposed a U.S. takevoer of Gaza.
"Today, as the Trump administration accelerates U.S. weapons sales to Israel, senators had the opportunity to vote against U.S. complicity in this suffering," Annie Shiel, U.S. advocacy director at Center for Civilians in Conflict, said Thursday. "Instead, they made a choice to continue U.S. support for a bombing campaign that has made Gaza unlivable for Palestinian civilians."
"We commend the 15 senators who voted to block these sales, protect civilians, and uphold U.S. and international law, and reiterate our call for the end to U.S. arms transfers to Israel, unfettered humanitarian access, and a renewed cease-fire," she added.
Dr. Mimi Syed, an emergency medicine physician who served in two medical tours in Gaza last year, also called out the Senate's majority on Thursday, declaring that they "capitulated to Trump" and that "our government's unconditional support for this genocide sends a dangerous message that violations of Palestinian dignity and freedom will continue to go unchecked."
“Every day in Gaza, I witnessed the devastating consequences of these U.S.-made bombs—entire families buried under rubble, hospitals forced to shut down, and patients left to die because there's no power, no medicine, and no way to evacuate," Syed said. "The U.S. is not just enabling these atrocities—it is directly funding it. And things have only worsened since Israel broke the cease-fire two weeks ago."
Josh Paul, who resigned from the U.S. State Department to protest then-President Joe Biden's support for the Israeli assault and then co-founded A New Policy, suggested that "if any other country in the world was using American bombs to kill thousands of innocent people—including the greatest loss of life among journalists in history, and the greatest loss of life among U.N. workers since the organization was established—U.S. senators would be lining up to block such weapons transfers."
"The transfer of these arms by consecutive presidents undermines our credibility and morality as a global power—while Congress' acquiescence is a failure of our elected officials to stand up for the application of our own laws," he asserted. "Continued unfettered arms sales to Israel enables gross human rights violations and will keep Israel from coming back to the negotiating table after a broken cease-fire."
"I left my post at the State Department in 2023 because the arms transfers I was being asked to facilitate were not being done in the name of peace, security, nor the interests of the American people," he added. "Our government must reassess not just our policies, but the values driving them."
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.
'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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