Bernie Sanders pushes to block US arms sale to Israel: All you need to know

The United States Senate will vote later this week on bills to block a $20bn arms deal with Israel, an effort advocates say will set a precedent in congressional efforts to halt weapons transfers to the US ally.

Senator Bernie Sanders – a progressive independent who caucuses with the Democrats – introduced the measures, known as Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs), in September and announced on November 13 that he will bring them to the Senate floor for a vote this week.

The effort is unlikely to pass in the mostly pro-Israel chamber, but it has been garnering support from rights groups and a growing number of Democratic lawmakers.

Hassan El-Tayyab, an advocacy organiser at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker social justice group, described the upcoming vote as “historic”.

He said the resolutions send a message to President Joe Biden, his successor-in-waiting Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the “status quo is unacceptable”.

The letter

The expected vote will come about two weeks after the Biden administration said it had not made an assessment that Israel is blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza – a conclusion that contradicted the findings of humanitarian groups.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin had sent a letter to Israeli leaders on October 13, threatening “consequences” under US law if Israel did not take specific steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days.

US law bans military assistance to countries that block Washington-backed humanitarian aid.

Continuing US military aid to Israel after the Blinken-Austin deadline – despite warnings by United Nations experts that famine was already spreading across Gaza – highlighted Biden’s uncompromising support for Israel.

El-Tayyab said the administration’s “cynical” decision makes Congress’s oversight role and Sanders’s resolution all the more important.

“Congress isn’t a passive bystander. It’s a co-equal branch of government that shares responsibility for what’s happening in Gaza,” he said.

In a statement announcing that he intends to force a vote on the resolution, Sanders said there was “no longer any doubt” that Israel is violating international and US law.

“As horrific as the last year has been, the current situation is even worse. Today, Israel continues to restrict the flow of food and medicine to desperate people,” the senator said.

What are JRDs?

Under US law, the executive branch can authorise weapons sales to foreign countries, but Congress has de facto veto power over the issue.

Lawmakers can introduce a measure to block a given sale – a JRD – under the Arms Export Control Act. For the resolution to become law, it would have to pass in the Senate and the House of Representatives and be signed by the president.

Since a JRD is almost by nature in opposition to White House policy, presidents are likely to block the proposed legislation, but Congress can override the presidential veto with a two-thirds majority in both chambers.

Sanders has introduced several resolutions that would block the sale by the US of tank and mortar rounds, direct attack munitions (JDAMs), F-15 fighter jets and other weapons.

Some of the JRDs blocking munition sales to Israel are backed by Democratic Senators Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley and Brian Schatz.

Senator Elizabeth Warren also voiced support for the effort, invoking the Biden administration’s failure to hold Israel accountable for blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza after the Blinken-Austin letter.

“The failure by the Biden administration to follow US law and to suspend arms shipments is a grave mistake that undermines American credibility worldwide,” Warren said in a statement last week.

“If this administration will not act, Congress must step up to enforce US law and hold the Netanyahu government accountable through a Joint Resolution of Disapproval.”

While Congress has voted previously on amendments about conditioning aid to Israel, a Senate vote on a JRD concerning the US ally would be the first of its kind.