Senate defeats effort led by Bernie Sanders to block planned US arms sales to Israel

The Senate on Wednesday voted down an effort led by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders to block a series of planned US weapons sales to Israel.

The Senate on Wednesday voted down an effort led by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders to block a series of planned US weapons sales to Israel. The failure of the long-shot effort highlights that despite criticism from the left that the Biden administration and Israel are not doing enough to protect civilians in Gaza, there remains widespread bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for US military assistance to Israel. The Senate votes come as scrutiny over US support for Israel’s war against Hamas has intensified as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has grown worse amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign. The US is Israel’s biggest military supplier. The war, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack, has raged for more than a year, killing at least 43,000 people, according to the Gazan health ministry. Efforts to secure a ceasefire and release of the Israel hostages held by Hamas have floundered, but there is more optimism about securing an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. “What is happening in Gaza today is unspeakable,” Sanders said at a press conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “What makes it even more painful is that much of what is happening there has been done with US weapons and with American taxpayer support. The United States of America is complicit in these atrocities. That complicity must end and that is what these resolutions are about.” Sanders, who is Jewish, said that “Israel clearly had a right to respond to the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7,” but criticized the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war.