United States Senator Bernie Sanders declared his intention to file several draft resolutions that would halt more than $20 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel.
In a letter sent on Wednesday to US Senators and President Joe Biden, Sanders said he intended to file Joint Resolutions of Disapproval next week.
In his remarks, Sanders highlighted that the Biden administration authorized arms sales to Israel last month exceeding $20 billion, encompassing systems linked to tens of thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza.
He asserted that the export of such weaponry contravenes the human rights stipulations outlined in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act.
“Much of this carnage in Gaza has been carried out with U.S.-provided military equipment,” Sanders wrote, adding that the U.S. cannot be “complicit in this humanitarian disaster.”
“Providing more offensive weapons tocontinue this disastrous war would violate U.S. and international law,” he concluded.
The U.S. Arms Export Control Act gives Congress the right to halt a major foreign weapons sale by passing a resolution of disapproval. Sanders said he is working with colleagues on the measures and would have some backing.
The move has been valued as a blow to the Netanyahu government that its genocide in Gaza is eroding the U.S.’s longtime bipartisan arms sales for Israel.
Under the resolutions, sales of missile systems, tank rounds, new fighter jets, and other weaponry, would be halted.
Earlier this year, the US Congress had temporarily stalled some arms sales to Israel as lawmakers tried to warn against the rising death toll in Gaza.
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