For the first time, U.S. senators have voted on blocking U.S. weapons sales to Israel, amid its military campaigns in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
In a series of votes Wednesday evening, the Senate shot down three joint resolutions of disapproval that aimed to block the Biden administration’s transfers of offensive weapons to Israel. The resolutions, sponsored by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, opposed the sale of tail kits for converting bombs into guided weapons known as joint direct attack munitions, mortar shells, and tank cartridges. The weapons addressed by the resolutions were approved by the Biden administration in August and have an estimated combined total cost of about $1 billion. It was the first time in history the U.S. Senate has voted on blocking specific arms sales to Israel.
According to a fact sheet from Sanders’ office, these weapons were chosen because they have been used by Israel in violation of U.S. and international law for attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians.
Nineteen senators supported at least one of Sanders’ joint resolutions of disapproval, only Democrats and Independents. No Republicans voted in favor.
The powerful pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) worked to get senators to vote against the resolutions, running ads in 17 states and asking its supporters to call their senators and pressure them on the issue.
J Street, a more liberal pro-Israel group, called on senators to vote in favor of at least one of the resolutions as a symbolic gesture that would indicate to the Israeli government that its conduct in Gaza in unacceptable. J Street has called for a ceasefire in the war, but it has stopped short of endorsing an arms embargo.
The White House was also lobbying senators against the resolutions. In a talking points memo that was obtained by HuffPost, the administration wrote, “Now is the time to focus pressure on Hamas to release the hostages and stop the war. Cutting off arms from Israel would put this goal even further out of reach and prolong the war, not shorten it.”
