Sanders Seeks to Block $658 Million in US Arms Sales to Israel

Sanders introduced the joint resolutions on Thursday under the Arms Export Control Act, joined by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.). Sanders said the proposed transfers include 22,000 bombs. Reuters reported that the package contained more than 12,000 1,000-pound bombs requested by Israel; human rights groups say such weapons have often been used in densely populated areas, causing civilian casualties.

The Trump administration approved the sales earlier this month under emergency authority, bypassing congressional review. Van Hollen said the administration was invoking emergency powers to provide additional bombs while disregarding Congress’s authority. Welch said he backed the resolutions to prevent another 20,000 bombs from being sent to Israel, which he said could cause further destruction in Iran and Lebanon.

The proposed transfers come as casualties and displacement mount in the region. More than 3,000 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28, including more than 1,300 classified as civilians and over 200 children, according to a Wednesday report by the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency. The UN Refugee Agency says more than 3 million Iranians have been displaced. Lebanon’s health ministry puts the death toll there at nearly 1,000; Israeli evacuation orders have driven more than a million people from their homes. Human Rights Watch has also reported intensified Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began.

The Republican-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee has five days to consider the resolutions. Sanders and his cosponsors could then seek a simple-majority vote to discharge them. Blocking the sales would require approval by both chambers, and Trump could veto the measure; overriding a veto would take two-thirds votes in each. The vote is considered unlikely to stop the transfers, but could put lawmakers, particularly Democrats, on record about US support for Israel’s actions.