'Enough Is Enough': Sanders Moves to Force Votes Against Trump Arms Sales to Israel

US Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to force votes Wednesday on a pair of resolutions that, if enacted, would block the sale of roughly half a billion dollars of weaponry to the Israeli government, citing its bombardment and invasion of Lebanon, continued assault on the Gaza Strip, and accelerating annexation of the West Bank.

In a statement previewing the Senate votes, Sanders (I-Vt.) said that "US taxpayers have spent tens of billions of dollars in support of the racist, extremist Netanyahu government. Enough is enough."

"The United States must use the leverage we have—tens of billions in arms and military aid—to demand that Israel ends these atrocities," the senator continued.

Sanders also posted a video to social media Wednesday morning to detail his reasoning:

Sanders' two resolutions would bar the sale of over $150 million worth of 1,000-pound gravity bombs and related support services, as well as the sale of nearly $300 million of Caterpillar bulldozers, which Israel uses to demolish homes in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Syria.

"The arms sales in question violate the criteria laid out in the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act," Sanders' office said Tuesday. "Secretary [of State] Marco Rubio signed an emergency determination just six days into the war with Iran in an attempt to bypass the statutory congressional notification period and immediately transfer these weapons."

The resolutions face long odds in the Republican-controlled US Senate. But last year, a majority of the Senate Democratic caucus backed Sanders-led resolutions aimed at blocking earlier Trump administration sales of 1,000-pound bombs, assault rifles, and other military equipment to Israel.

"Polls show that over 70% of Democratic voters want to halt arms sales to Israel," noted Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy. "Lawmakers should not be in positions of party leadership—or hope to be its presidential nominee—if they vote against their base to give Israel the bombs and bulldozers it uses to commit war crimes."

Elizabeth Rghebi, Middle East-North Africa advocacy director at Amnesty International USA, urged Americans to call their senators at 202-224-3121 and demand that they support the new Sanders resolutions.

"Amnesty International has documented a clear and ongoing pattern by Israeli forces committing serious violations of international law, including war crimes, genocide, and apartheid," Rghebi wrote Tuesday. "This includes evidence that Israeli forces have repeatedly carried out war crimes in Lebanon and Iran and the crime of genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. Amnesty has also been able to identify the use of US-origin weapons, including a 1,000-pound bomb, in the occupied Gaza Strip."

"All senators must take urgent action to ensure that the U.S. immediately suspends the supply, sale, or transfer to Israel of all weapons, munitions, and other military and security equipment, including the provision of training and other military and security assistance," Rghebi added. "Supporting measures such as the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval is essential to stopping genocide and ensuring that the U.S. is not providing arms and equipment to Israel that can be used to carry out war crimes and genocide."

Sanders' resolutions have also received support from the pro-Israel liberal advocacy group J Street, which said in a policy memo earlier this week that "the United States should phase out direct financial support for arms sales to Israel and treat Israel as it does other wealthy US allies" rather than giving the country "unquestioning, blank-check support."

In a social media post endorsing Sanders' resolutions, J Street wrote that "at a moment of fragile ceasefires and continued violence across the region, approving these transfers would be seen as an American endorsement of the US and Israeli war with Iran and Israeli actions in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank."

"The weapons transfers being voted on include 1,000-pound bombs and D-9 bulldozers, which have been used by the Israeli government in ways that raise serious legal and moral concerns," the group wrote. "Congress has a clear responsibility to ensure that US-supplied weapons are not contributing to civilian suffering or undermining the chances for diplomacy, de-escalation, and peace."