No more arms sales to Netanyahu (Bernie Sanders)

 op-ed in The Washington Post today:

The United States government must stop blatantly violating the law with regard to arms sales to Israel. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act are very clear: the United States cannot provide weapons to any country that violates internationally recognized human rights. Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act is also explicit: no U.S. assistance may be provided to any country that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

According to the United Nations, much of the international community and every humanitarian organization on the ground in Gaza, Israel is clearly in violation of these laws. That is why I have introduced, with colleagues, several joint resolutions of disapproval which would block offensive arms sales to Israel. The votes will take place in the Senate on Wednesday.

As I have said many times, Israel clearly had a right to respond to the horrific Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages, including Americans. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has also waged all-out war against the Palestinian people. Within Gaza’s population of just 2.2 million, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 103,000 injured — probably 60 percent of whom are women, children or elderly people. A recent U.N. assessment of satellite imagery found that two-thirds of all structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. That includes 87 percent of housing, 84 percent of health facilities, and about 70 percent of water and sanitation plants. Every one of Gaza’s 12 universities has been bombed, as have hundreds of schools.

During the last year, millions of desperately poor people in Gaza have been driven from their homes, forced to evacuate again and again with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Families have been herded into so-called safe zones, only to face continued bombardment. The children of Gaza have suffered a level of physical and emotional trauma that is almost beyond comprehension and that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

As horrific as the situation in Gaza has been over the past year, it is getting unimaginably worse. Humanitarian aid workers on the ground report that tens of thousands of children are now experiencing malnutrition and starvation because of Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid. The need is greater than at any other time in the conflict; the volume of aid getting into Gaza in recent weeks is lower than at any point since the war began. And Israel’s recent decision to ban the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, will only make a horrific situation even worse.

I have met with doctors who have served in Gaza, treating hundreds of patients a day without electricity, anesthesia or clean water, including dozens of children arriving with gunshot wounds to the head. I’ve seen the photographs and the videos. UNICEF estimates that 10 children lose a leg in Gaza every day. There are more than 17,000 orphans.

All of this is unspeakable and immoral. But what makes it even more painful is that much of this death and destruction has been carried out with U.S. weaponry and paid for by American taxpayers. During the last year alone, the United States has provided $18 billion in military aid to Israel and delivered more than 50,000 tons of armaments and military equipment.

In other words, as Americans, we are complicit in these horrific and illegal atrocities. Our complicity must end.

I understand there are those who will argue that blocking these offensive arms sales will only embolden terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as their sponsors in Iran. I would respectfully disagree. You do not effectively combat terrorism by starving thousands of innocent children. You do not effectively combat terrorism by bombing schools and hospitals. You do not effectively combat terrorism by turning virtually the entire world against your country.

Because of its immoral actions, Israel is less secure and increasingly isolated. Israel is becoming a pariah nation condemned by governments around the world, international institutions and humanitarian organizations. Britain recently suspended 30 arms export licenses after concluding there was an unacceptable risk they could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have taken similar steps. U.N. bodies have called for an end to the arms shipments fueling the conflict.

Let’s be clear: Israel, like any other nation, has a right to defend itself and these resolutions will not endanger that defense. Instead, they specifically target offensive weapons that are responsible for thousands of civilian deaths.

The American people have had enough. Poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans oppose sending more weapons and military aid to fuel Netanyahu’s war machine. We should listen to the American people. The Congress must act now to stop these arms sales.