WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to reject three efforts led by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have blocked certain offensive weapons sales to Israel.
The resolutions got bipartisan opposition and had not been expected to pass.
Sanders, I-Vt., sponsored three separate resolutions that were zeroed in on different types of weapons: tank rounds, mortar rounds and a type of guidance kit that is often attached to bombs dropped in Gaza. The resolutions failed, with 78, 79 and 80 senators voting against the three separate attempts.
Sanders said on X before the vote that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has violated international & US law, violating human rights and blocking humanitarian aid.”
In a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Sanders argued that the resolutions “would not affect any of the systems Israel uses to defend itself from incoming attacks,” focusing instead on offensive weapons.
“As I have said many, many times: Israel had the absolute right to respond to that horrific Hamas attack, as any other country would. I don’t think anyone here in the United States Senate disagrees with that,” he said in his floor speech. “But Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist government has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people.”
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., voted in favor of the resolutions, saying in astatement that “the US strategy of giving the Netanyahu government a blank check for offensive weapons cannot continue.”
“No nation, not even a close ally such as Israel, is entitled to military assistance from the United States without following US and international law,” he added.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, DN.M., also voted for the resolutions, saying in a statement that de-escalating the war “cannot happen if we look the other way when it comes to how specific weapons are used and their extraordinary toll.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., was the only senator to vote “present” on each resolution. She said in a statement that “these resolutions are not the solution.”
“I’m abstaining because neither a ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ vote captures my goals of both supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and protecting the lives of innocent Palestinians,” the statement continued.
Other Democrats touted their votes against the resolutions.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said on X that she “will always stand proudly to support our strongest ally.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., similarly said in on X that “Israel is our ally in the Middle East & we must do everything we can to help it defend itself.”
Every Republican present for the vote also voted against the resolutions.
“While Israel is being attacked on all fronts, it should not be under attack in the halls of Congress,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said on X.
“Limiting Israel’s ability to defend itself helps its enemies,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in another post on X.
During the presidential campaign, anti-war progressives routinly criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the war, pushing for an end to the conflict and slamming the White House’s alliance with Israel and Netanyahu.
Israel’s government, led by Netanyahu, has ardently argued that it must destroy Hamas to prevent an attack similar to that terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023when about 1,200 people in Israel were killed and 251 were kidnapped.
More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive into the dense enclave since the attack, according to health officials in Gaza. The death toll statistics do not distinguish between Hamas combatants and civilians, but health officials say more than half of those killed are women and children.