Bernie Sanders Pushes Resolutions to Block US Weapons Sales to Israel

Bernie Sanders on Wednesday led a failed effort to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel, but the votes revealed a growing appetite among Democrats to impose limits on US weapons transfers to a longtime US ally.

It was the fourth time Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, had forced consideration of resolutions cutting off military aid for Israel in the Senate, all of which have been rejected by the chamber’s Republican majority, and many Democrats. But on Wednesday, 40 Senators backed a resolution brought by Sanders that would have prevented the sale of $295m in bulldozers and 36 members voted for a second resolution that would have halted a $151.8m sale of 12,000 1,000lb bombs to Israel’s military.

“Being a stalwart friend of Israel, however, does not mean agreeing with all decisions of the Israeli Government or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just like being a patriot of the United States does not require unquestioning agreement with the policy decisions of President Donald Trump and his administration,” California senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla said in a joint statement, after voting in favor of the resolutions. Both had previously voted against the measure. In the House of Representatives, sentiment has also been built among some progressive lawmakers for cutting off all military aid to Israel, even for defensive weapons such as the Iron Dome missile shield.

Progressive member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this month said she would “not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and US law”. Fellow progressive Ro Khanna endorsed that approach in an interview with Zeteo, saying: “I do believe Iron Dome is important in terms of saving lives. Israel can buy it with their own money.”