TAKE ACTION: Senate Vote to Stop
$20B Israel Arms Deal NEXT WEEK!
Peace Action
(November 11, 2024) — Since the Biden administration announced a $20 billion arms deal to Israel in August, we’ve been organizing around the clock to stop it. If you’ve taken action urging your members of Congress to support blocking these dangerous weapons deals — thank you! Now we need you to take action again.
As you may recall, Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced several bills, along with Senators Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley, and Brian Schatz that would block specific arms transfers to Israel. Collectively, they make up a package of “Joint Resolutions of Disapproval. (JRD)” There are six bills in total — one to block each weapons transfer. These weapons include tank and mortar rounds that have been documented to kill innocent civilians including children, journalists, and medical professionals.
HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART: We now know that a vote on these JRDs will likely happen in the Senate early next week! This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for Gaza and may be the final vote on the war that we see in Congress for some time.
More than a year into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed, the vast majority civilian women and children. Israel’s continued onslaught, in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon, is made possible by US military support.
We need to do everything in our power to end it.
ACTION: Tell your Senators today to join Senator Sanders, Welch, and Merkley in their efforts to rein in US support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The Biden administration recently notified Congress of its intent to authorize another massive new arms sale to the Israeli government, including billions of dollars in the same kinds of weapons that have already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza. At the same time, with Israel’s escalation in Lebanon, the conflict risks spiraling out of control. Senator Sanders has introduced bills to block these transfers which would put pressure on Israel to end these attacks and gain ceasefires — and they could be voted on NEXT WEEK!!!
ACTION: Contact your Senators Here!
THE LETTER
I am writing to ask you to oppose the $20 billion weapons package to the Israeli government, announced by the Biden administration in August. I am writing to ask you to support Senators Sanders, Welch, and Merkley in seeking to block arms transfers to Israel at this dangerous time. Please cosponsor and support S. J. Res. 111,112, 113, 114, 115, and 116.
Action is critical now given the escalation of the wider war in Lebanon. Hundreds have already died there and retaliation against Israel could cause the war to spiral out of control. The US must put pressure on its ally Israel not to inflame the situation further. These bills are one way to do that.
We must immediately halt the sale and shipment of the weapons and warplanes that the Israeli government is using to slaughter and starve thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
Congress needs to stand up and use its authority to pass a Congressional Joint Resolution of Disapproval of these arms transfers. As a voting constituent, I strongly urge you to support these efforts and any other measures to block further arms transfers to Israel as it wages its brutal war in Gaza. A permanent ceasefire is desperately needed to end this war, but sending more weapons just adds fuel to the fire. We cannot end the killing and humanitarian catastrophe until more pro-human rights elected officials take a stand.
Please do everything in your power to oppose this weapons package by passing Congressional Joint Resolutions of Disapproval of these arms transfers, and to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza to end the suffering and save lives. I look forward to hearing how you intend to act on this incredibly important issue.
