US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to the media following a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, US, July 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Lawmakers and allies of the Jewish state are blasting Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) over proposing legislation to block arms transfers worth an estimated $20 billion to Israel.
On Wednesday, Sanders introduced Joint Resolutions of Disapproval alongside Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OH) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) to nix the sale of over $20 billion in offensive weapons to Israel. In a statement, Sanders wrote that Israel’s “extremist” government headlined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “waged all-out war against the Palestinian people.” The senator directly accused Israel of targeting hospitals, bombing infrastructure, and starving children.
“American weapons have been used indiscriminately, and several of the systems included in these sales are responsible for a large number of civilian casualties. There is a mountain of documentary evidence demonstrating that these weapons are being used in violation of U.S. and international law,” Sanders wrote.
Sanders then accused Netanyahu of trying to prolong the war in Gaza to bolster his political standing with the Israeli public. He claimed that the Israeli leader has intentionally derailed every potential ceasefire deal with the Hamas terrorist group by adding last-minute conditions.
He concludes that “sending more weapons to Netanyahu’s extremist government is unacceptable. That is why many of our closest allies have already stopped offensive arms transfers. Congress must now act to uphold U.S. and international law and use our leverage to advance U.S. policy goals.”
The senators received widespread backlash over their attempt to withhold arms from Israel amid the Jewish state’s ongoing war against the Hamas terrorist group.
“Weakening our ally as it fights on 7 fronts doesn’t stop the wars, it just emboldens Israel & America’s enemies,” The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) wrote on X/Twitter.
“These dangerous resolutions undermine our ally as Iran and its proxies attack it on 7 fronts,” AIPAC added.
“Israel is already under attack on all fronts. Our ally shouldn’t be attacked in the halls of Congress,” Sen. Joni Ernst wrote on X/Twitter.
Sanders has long been a staunch critic of the Jewish state. Sanders has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “collective punishment” and “apartheid” against the Palestinian people. Although the senator initially condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters of roughly 1200 people throughout southern Israel by Hamas, he subsequently pushed for a “ceasefire” between the Jewish state and the terrorist group.
The effort to block arms transfers to Israel is not expected to pass Congress. However, many observe the legislation as a message to the Netanyahu government that the ongoing war effort has eroded the broad bipartisan support that Israel once enjoyed within the United States.
The post Bernie Sanders Blasted Over Attempt To Block Arms Transfers To Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
