“There will be another shipment of military weapons and planes that has to come before Congress to get an approval, and I will lead the effort to try to stop that,” — Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sanders Pledges Resolution to Block
$20 Billion US Arms Sale to Israel
Jake Johnson / Common Dreams
(August 30, 2024) — The US State Department notified Congress on August 13 that it decided to approve the sale of dozens of F-15 fighter jets, tens of thousands of mortar shells, and other weaponry to Israel. Some of the military equipment isn’t set to be delivered until 2026.
According toThe New York Times, the Biden administration deliberately timed the notification for when both chambers of Congress were on recess in an effort to “avoid an ugly fight” over the sales.
Sanders’ vow to introduce a resolution of disapproval could throw a wrench in the administration’s plans for a smooth congressional review process.
As the advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) explained earlier this month, the “only mechanism available to Congress to prevent this sale from advancing is a Joint Resolution of Disapproval (JRD).”
Sanders’ earlieer attempt to block weapons shipments to Israel.
While the Biden administration is likely to argue that the 15-day period for lawmakers to challenge the proposed sale has passed, DAWN observed that “the Senate parliamentarian has previously ruled that the Senate can consider these cases even after the 15-day clock has expired.”
Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN’s executive director, applauded Sanders late Thursday for “challenging this reckless provision of weapons to Israel.”
“The whole world can see that Israel has massacred over 40,000 Gazans with US weapons and has no intention of stopping the carnage,” Whitson wrote on social media. “Just over a week ago, DAWN urged the Senate to pause and question this massive weapons sale, which is fueling not only the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza but a wider regional war.”
‘No,’ Kamala Harris Says to
Withholding Arms From Israel
Jake Johnson / Common Ground
(August 30, 2024) — “Harris is saying she will reject 77% of Democrats, 61% of Americans, international law, domestic US law, and basic humanity to continue the flow of weapons to Israel while it stands accused of genocide,” said one analyst.
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said in a CNN interview that aired late Thursday that, if elected in November, she would not change the Biden administration’s policy of steadfast military support for Israel, rejecting widespread calls for an arms embargo to help bring about an end to the devastating assault on Gaza.
“Israel had a right, has a right to defend itself.”[NOTE: This is noooot true. israel is the occupier to an occupied state. An occupied state has the right to defend itself, not the occupying state!!!! See international law. This needs to be made clear far and wide and to counter the massive misinformation coming from the dnc and main stream media.]
“The vice president’s statement was morally indefensible and politically shortsighted as the lack of American consequences for Netanyahu’s horrific assault on Palestinian civilians in Gaza has emboldened Israel to now invade the West Bank,” Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, co-founders of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in a statement Friday. “Vice President Harris must turn the page from one of the most glaring foreign policy failures of our time by aligning with the American majority that opposes sending weapons to Israel’s assault on Gaza.”
Despite Bash’s characterization of calls for an arms embargo against Israel as a demand from the “progressive left,” survey data has shown that a majority of US voters oppose sending weapons to Israel as it commits appalling war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
“Harris is saying she will reject 77% of Democrats, 61% of Americans, international law, domestic US law, and basic humanity to continue the flow of weapons to Israel while it stands accused of genocide,” Middle East scholar Assal Rad said late Thursday, citing the results of a recent CBS News/YouGov poll.
On Thursday, Israel’s military killed five Palestinians in an airstrike on a vehicle convoy of the Washington, D.C.-based American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) agency. It is a violation of US law to provide weaponry to a country obstructing the delivery of American humanitarian aid.
The attack on the ANERA convoy came a day after Israeli forces opened fire on a World Food Program vehicle, forcing the U.N. agency to suspend employee movement in Gaza.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in the US Congress, said Harris’ answer signaled that “war crimes and genocide will continue.”
Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of IfNotNow, called the Democratic nominee’s answer on Gaza “terrible” and “out of touch with voters, especially those in key battleground states who Harris needs to feel motivated to go to the polls.”
In an op-ed for Common Dreams on Friday, RootsAction national director Norman Solomon warned that “time is running out for Kamala Harris to distance herself from US policies that enable Israel to continue with mass murder and genocide in Gaza.”
“Polling shows that a pivot toward moral decency would improve her chances of defeating Donald Trump,” Solomon wrote. “But during her CNN interview Thursday night, Harris remained in lockstep with President Biden’s unconditional arming of Israel.”
Comment: Regarding the claim that “Israel had a right, has a right to defend itself.” Beth Angel responds: “This is not true. israel is the occupier to an occupied state. An occupied state has the right to defend itself, not the occupying state! See international law. This needs to be made clear far and wide and to counter the massive misinformation coming from the DNC and mainstream media.]
ACTION:
SHARE WITH YOUR EMAIL LISTS AND CONTACTS
Please send these articles to our senators and representatives with any comments you want to add. They need to know this information. They are so mis-informed. Constituents writing through their contact page gets more attention and consideration. Get your friends, families, and email lists to join you.
Join me in sending articles with excerpts and notes to our Sens and Reps
Website to look up your senator: https://www.senate.gov/
Website to look up your representative: https://www.house.gov/
Go to your congress person’s contact page to send them your message.
