Senate scuttles Sanders' shot at stopping sale of US arms to Israel

The US Senate has blocked legislation that would have halted the sale of some weapons to Israel, which had been introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders out of concern about the human rights catastrophe faced by Palestinians in besieged Gaza.

Seventy-nine of the 100 senators opposed a resolution that would have blocked sales of tank rounds to Israel, while 18 approved it and one voted present.

Seventy-eight opposed a second measure, which would have stopped the shipment of mortar rounds, while 19 supported it and one voted present.

The Senate was to vote on a third resolution that would stop shipments of a GPS guidance system for bombs.

All of the votes in favour of the measures came from the Democratic caucus, while "no" votes came from both Democrats and Republicans.

Independent Senator Sanders forced an effort to block the sale of some offensive weapons to Israel for its genocide in Gaza over mounting civilian deaths there.

Most of Gaza's population of 2.4 million people has been displaced and the enclave is at risk of famine, more than a year into Israel's genocide in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel has killed more than 43,985 Palestinians, wounded over 104,092, with 10,000 plus feared buried under debris of bombed homes. In Lebanon, Israel has killed at least 3,558 people since October 2023.

But many analysts say this is just a conservative estimate.

A letter to US President Joe Biden from a group of almost 100 American doctors who served in Gaza estimated a death toll of more than 118,000 in October 2024. And according to the UK medical journal The Lancet, the death toll could be more than 180,000.

The Vermont lawmaker and a small group of Democrats put legislation up for a Senate vote that would have blocked the sale of some tank and mortar rounds and smart-bomb kits to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right regime "has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people," Sanders told lawmakers from the Senate floor.

Known as joint resolutions of disapproval, the measure would have to pass both houses of Congress and withstand any presidential veto to become binding.

Congress has never succeeded in blocking any arms sales with the joint resolutions. But the vote served as a test of broader frustration among Democrats at the war and President Joe Biden's handling of Israel's genocide in the besieged enclave.

Lawmakers' move comes after a 30-day Biden administration deadline came and went earlier this month for Netanyahu to meet specific US targets to improve its treatment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza trapped in the war.

US demands included that Israel lift a near-total ban on the delivery of aid to hard-hit north Gaza for starving civilians there. But despite evidence that Tel Aviv was blocking aid, US chose not to impose penalty on Israel.

Worsening conditions for civilians

Leading global aid organisations say Israel — which is heavily dependent on US arms and military aid — fell far short of meeting the US demand to allow in an adequate number of aid trucks, and in some other ways worsened conditions for civilians.

That includes Israeli far-right lawmakers newly banning the main UN agency that provides aid to Palestinians.

UN officials said as the end of the US deadline neared that the entire population of north Gaza is now at imminent risk of dying from famine, airstrikes, or other threats.

"We would expect that there be some consequences when things get even worse,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in the run-up to the vote on the measures. Fellow Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont also joined Sanders in the appeal.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor that he will "strongly oppose" the measures.

Senator Ben Cardin, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, read what he said was a message from the White House urging lawmakers to defeat the measures.

Centrist and progressive Democratic lawmakers and Sanders have made repeated runs during the more than 1-year-old war at convincing the White House and Congress to condition US arms shipments to Israel on improved treatment of Palestinian civilians in the genocide.

Other than pausing one planned shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, Biden — at 82, a lifelong supporter of Israel — has rejected calls to limit military support to Israel.

Sanders, on the Senate floor, said the continuing flow of US arms to Israel for the war violated US law and undermined US standing in the world.

Other governments will say to Americans, "Don’t give us advice, don't criticise us, when you have supported the mass starvation of children with your tax dollars," he said.

The US' roughly $18 billion in military support for Israel during the genocide was a politically divisive issue in the US presidential campaign.

Trump, who promised voters he will end wars in Middle East, has called on Netanyahu to bring the Gaza war to a quick close. He has offered few specifics on his plans on that.