On Wednesday, Sanders introduced six resolutions blocking six sales of different weapons contained within the $20 billion weapons deal announced by the Biden administration in August. The sales include many of the types of weapons that Israel has used in its relentless campaign of extermination in Gaza over the past year.
“Sending more weapons is not only immoral, it is also illegal. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act lay out clear requirements for the use of American weaponry – Israel has egregiously violated those rules,” said Sanders. “There is a mountain of documentary evidence demonstrating that these weapons are being used in violation of U.S. and international law.”
This will be the first time in history that Congress has ever voted on legislation to block a weapons sale to Israel, as the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project pointed out. This is despite the U.S. having sent Israel over $250 billion in military assistance in recent decades, according to analyst Stephen Semler, as Israel has carried out ethnic cleansings and massacres across Palestine and in Lebanon.
The resolutions are not likely to pass; even if they did pass the heavily pro-Israel Congress, they would likely be vetoed by President Joe Biden, who has been insistent on sending weapons to Israel with no strings attached.
However, Sanders’s move is in line with public opinion. Polls have consistently found that the majority of the public supports an end to Israel’s genocide; a poll by the Institute for Global Affairs released this week found, for instance, that a majority of Americans think the U.S. should stop supporting Israel or make support contingent on Israeli officials’ agreement to a ceasefire deal. This includes nearly 80 percent of Democrats.
The reason HRC won the primary is that she got 17 million votes and Sanders only got 13 million.
And how was it that Hillary and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz ensured this was the voting outcome?
Hillary won her voters by campaigning. That is how you win voters.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz had nothing to do with it, because she doesn’t have a mind control device.
…because the media and DNC conspired to make Bernie look like he was a crazy person who had no chance (basically the opposite of what they do for Trump). They used classic “tail wagging the dog” tactics to gaslight the left, downplay Bernie’s support, and coronate Hillary.
If they hadn’t been actively sabatoging him the entire fucking time he had an excellent chance.
Are you saying that the DNC has mind control powers over 4 million Americans, making them vote for Hillary despite themselves?
Because if that were true, Hillary would be president.
This is such a deeply bad faith argument but, yea, that’s what advertising is and several media outlets coordinated with the campaign to box out Sanders and portray his ideas as fringe.