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SANDERS SAYS US COMPLICITY IN GAZA ‘MUST END’ AHEAD OF SENATE
VOTE TO BLOCK ARMS TO ISRAEL  
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Jake Johnson
November 19, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ "The United States government is currently in violation of the law,
and every member of the U.S. Senate who believes in the rule of law
should vote for these resolutions," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. _

Sen. Sanders Holds Press Conference On Arms Sales To Israel Ahead Of
Wednesday's Vote U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), joined by Sen. Jeff
Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), speaks at a news
conference on November 19, 2024 in Washington, D.C, Kevin
Dietsch/Getty Images

 

A group of U.S. senators led by Bernie Sanders
[[link removed]] of Vermont held a
press conference Tuesday urging their colleagues to support
resolutions that would block the sale of tank rounds
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bomb kits
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and other weaponry
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to the Israeli government, which has repeatedly
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commit horrific war crimes in the Gaza
[[link removed]] Strip over the past 13 months.

"The truth of the matter is, from a legal perspective, these
resolutions are not complicated; they're cut and dry," said Sanders
(I-Vt.), who introduced
[[link removed]] the
joint resolutions of disapproval in September alongside several other
members of the Senate Democratic caucus.

"The United States government is currently in violation of the law,
and every member of the U.S. Senate who believes in the rule of law
should vote for these resolutions," Sanders continued, pointing to
U.S. statutes
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prohibiting the sale of weaponry to countries violating
internationally recognized human rights or obstructing American
humanitarian aid.

Sanders was joined at Tuesday's press conference by Sens. Peter Welch
(D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), each of
whom made their case to fellow senators ahead of a scheduled floor
vote on Wednesday.

"What's unfolding before our very eyes right now is mass starvation
and the spread of disease," said Welch. "Is the United States and its
foreign policy... forced to be blind to the suffering before our very
eyes?"

Surrounding the senators as they spoke were photographs of destruction
and emaciated children in Gaza, where most of the population is
displaced and crowded into small segments of the enclave as Israeli
bombs rain down and famine takes hold.

Watch the full press conference:

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The resolutions will hit the floor for a vote Wednesday with the
backing of a broad coalition that includes Jewish Voice for Peace
Action, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, J Street, the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Oxfam, and other
organizations and activists.
"For over a year, the Biden administration has funded the Israeli
government's brutal genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, despite
overwhelming opposition from across the country," said Beth Miller,
political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, which said it has
driven more than 56,200 letters and more than 20,790 phone calls to
senators imploring them to support the measures.

"These joint resolutions of disapproval are one of the last chances
that Senate Democrats have before Republicans take control in January
to uphold human rights, honor the will of the American people, and
stand on the right side of history by blocking weapons to the Israeli
military," Miller added.

"It is time to tell the Netanyahu government that they cannot use U.S.
taxpayer dollars and American weapons in violation of U.S. and
international law, and in violation of our moral values."

Since the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel
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ally with more than 50,000 tons of weaponry
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billions of dollars in additional arms and military equipment to be
delivered in years to come
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U.S. military support has helped Israel carry out a large-scale
military assault on Gaza, killing more than 43,000 people so far—a
majority of them women and children
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To sustain the flow of American weapons, the Biden administration has
contradicted the findings of its own experts
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analysts by declaring publicly that it has not found Israel to be
illegally blocking U.S. humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile,
aid groups on the ground
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say humanitarian assistance has plummeted to an all-time low in recent
weeks, with an average of just 37 aid trucks entering Gaza per day in
October.

During Tuesday's press conference, Sanders said the "most important
point to be made" ahead of Wednesday's vote is that "the United States
of America is complicit in these atrocities."

"That complicity must end, and that is what these resolutions are
about," said Sanders. "It is time to tell the Netanyahu government
that they cannot use U.S. taxpayer dollars and American weapons in
violation of U.S. and international law, and in violation of our moral
values."

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Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

* Bernie Sanders; Israel; Humanitarian Aid; Arms Embargo;
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