Posted on 09/18/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
US Senator Bernie Sanders announced on Wednesday that he would file legislation seeking to block the sale of offensive US weapons to Israel, citing the toll on civilians of the war against Hamas in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he intended to file Joint Resolutions of Disapproval next week.
The US Arms Export Control Act gives Congress the right to stop a major foreign weapons sale by passing a resolution of disapproval. Although no such resolution has both passed Congress and survived a presidential veto, the law requires the Senate to vote if a resolution is filed and they have at times led to angry debates embarrassing to past presidents.
"Providing more offensive weapons to continue this disastrous war would violate U.S. and international law," Sanders said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
He added that the Biden administration last month approved arms sales to Israel totaling more than $20 billion that included systems tied to tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza. He said exporting such weapons would violate human rights provisions in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and Arms Export Control Act.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sanders' announcement.
Sanders is one of Israel’s fiercest critics in Congress, having most recently boycotted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Congress speech while branding Netanyahu a “war criminal”.
He has long been critical of Israel’s government, referring to it as “racist” and has advocated for the US to condition its aid to Israel.