Senate rejects Bernie Sanders' effort to block U.S. weapons sales to Israel

Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening against three resolutions, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have blocked the sale of certain U.S. weapons to Israel.

The Senate voted 18 to 79 to defeat S.J. Res. 111, which would have blocked the sale of 120-millimeter tank rounds.

The Senate also voted 19 to 78 against a second resolution that would have blocked the sale of high-explosive mortar rounds. And it voted 17 to 80 against blocking the sale of kits to transform "dumb" bombs into precision-guided weapons.

Sanders, 83, who is Jewish, sponsored the three resolutions in protest of Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, claiming the United States cannot support countries that violate human rights.

"It is time to tell the Netanyahu government that they cannot use U.S. taxpayer dollars and American weapons in violation of U.S. and international law and our moral values despite receiving $18 billion from U.S. taxpayers in the last year," Sanders, I-Vt., said.

"According to the United Nations, much of the international community and every humanitarian organization on the ground in Gaza, Israel is clearly in violation of these laws," Sanders said in a speech from the Senate floor. '

"Under these circumstances, it is illegal for the U.S. government to provide Israel with more offensive weapons," Sanders added.

Israel's ongoing war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas' terror attack, on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people as hundreds more were taken hostage.

"Israel clearly had a right to respond to the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7," Sanders said, while criticizing the Israeli government for its handling of the war that has killed more than 43,000 people, according to the Gazan health ministry.

"What is happening in Gaza today is unspeakable," Sanders told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

"What makes it even more painful is that much of what is happening there has been done with U.S. weapons and with American taxpayer support. The United States of America is complicit in these atrocities," Sanders added. "That complicity must end and that is what these resolutions are about."

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.y., opposed the resolutions, and called on others to "reject the senator's resolutions outright."

"Those who mourn senseless human suffering should have no trouble assigning blame to the terrorists who exploit civilians, schools, hospitals and mosques as cover," McConnell said Tuesday during remarks on the Senate floor.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin, D-Md., also voted against Sanders' proposals.

"Israel is surrounded by enemies dedicated to its annihilation from Hamas and Hezbollah to the Houthis to most threateningly of all, Iran," Schumer warned. "These threats have been around for a long time and will persist for many years into the future."