Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked his colleagues on Tuesday to reject the more than $10 billion in military financing for Israel being debated in the aftermath of Israel’s “grossly disproportionate” and “immoral” reaction to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists.
In a statement, Sanders urged Congress to reject the $10.1 billion in “unconditional military aid” proposed for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “right-wing government to continue its brutal war against the Palestinian people.”
“The issue we face with Israel-Gaza is not complicated,” Sanders went on to say. “While we acknowledge that Hamas’s heinous terrorist attack sparked this war, we must also acknowledge that Israel’s military response has been grossly disproportionate, immoral, and in violation of international law.” And, most importantly for Americans, we must recognize that Israel’s war against the Palestinian people has been fought mostly with American bombs, artillery shells, and other equipment. And the consequences have been disastrous.”
Since Hamas started its deadliest onslaught against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, more than 22,000 people have been murdered in Gaza and Israel, prompting Israeli soldiers to undertake a military invasion into the area. Civilians have been regularly caught in the crossfire, with many injured and many others taken captive by Hamas and raped, tortured, or murdered.
Sanders stated that the war has injured an estimated 57,000 Palestinians.
“Since the start of the war 1.9 million Palestinian men, women, and children have been driven from their homes – 85% of the total population of Gaza,” the member of parliament added. According to a satellite radar data study, over 70% of Gaza’s dwelling units have been destroyed.
“Today, not only are the vast majority of people in Gaza homeless, they lack food, water, medical supplies, and fuel,” he said. “According to a recent UN report, half of the 2.2 million-strong population is at risk of starvation, and 90% regularly go without food for an entire day.” The World Food Program’s chief economist has described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “among the worst he has ever seen.” This cannot go on indefinitely.”
The proposed military aid for Israel is part of an emergency foreign aid package that also includes funds for Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific area, and border security in the United States.
Sanders stated that American taxpayers “must no longer be complicit in destroying the lives of innocent people.”
A procedural motion to pass the $110 billion emergency foreign aid package, which includes $10.1 billion for Israel, was opposed by Sanders last month. He was the lone Democrat in the caucus to vote against the proposal.
Prior to the vote, Sanders urged his Senate Democratic Caucus colleagues to vote against the proposal and attacked Netanyahu’s military response in a similar manner.
“I do not think we should be appropriating $10.1 billion for the right-wing, extremist Netanyahu government to continue its current military strategy,” he stated in the letter dated December 5. “What the Netanyahu government is doing is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the United States should not be complicit in those actions.”
A week later, Sanders wrote to President Biden claiming that the Israeli military response in Gaza has devolved into a “mass atrocity” and that it “would be irresponsible to provide an additional $10.1 billion in military aid” in addition to the defensive measures meant to shield Israeli civilians from rocket and missile attacks.
The lawmaker gave Biden a warning, stating that “Israel’s military campaign will be remembered among some of the darkest chapters of our modern history” and provided a breakdown of the number of those killed and injured during the operation. Additionally, he said that the devastation in Gaza had eclipsed the damage brought about by American bombing of Japanese and German cities in Dresden during World War II.
