US Senate rejects bill to condition Israeli aid, limiting Gaza pushback
The US Senate overwhelmingly rejected a resolution introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders that would have required the State Department to report to Congress any evidence of human rights violations by Israel in Gaza, potentially curtailing US military assistance to Israel.
The vote on Tuesday night is one of the clearest signals yet that despite widespread public criticism of Israel, US lawmakers in both parties are unwilling to censure Israel.
The Senate voted 72 to 11 to kill the resolution which was forced to a vote on the Senate floor by Sanders.
Republican Senator Rand Paul joined Sanders and nine other Democrats voting to keep the resolution alive, including Jeff Merkley; Chris Van Hollen; Martin Heinrich; Laphonza Butler; Edward Markey; Ben Ray Lujan; Mazie Hirono; Peter Welch; and Elizabeth Warren.
While the vote underscores the divide that has emerged between moderate and progressive Democrats over Gaza, it also shows how support for Israel continues to dominate within the party, at least in Congress. US lawmakers continue to view the war in Gaza in the context of the US's wider confrontation with Iran.
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Sander’s himself tried to encourage senators to vote for his resolution, calling it a “very modest, common-sense proposal”, and framing it within the context of giving Congress greater oversight of US foreign policy.
“A vote against this resolution… it says, 'I don’t want more information,’ ” Sanders said. "'I want to keep my head in the sand. I don’t want to see what’s going on'."
“What we are voting on today is simply a request for information,” Sanders said.
The top Democrat on the US Foreign Affairs Committee, Senator Ben Cardin, issued a stinging rebuke to the resolution, saying it “is much more than just requesting information” and that it was “a gift to Hamas, a gift to Iran [and] an indictment against Israel”.
'Disappointed if not disgusted'
Tuesday’s vote also showcased how even Democrats who have been critical of Israel are unwilling to put military aid for the US’s closest Middle East ally on the line, when given the opportunity.
Democrat Dick Durbin, who was the first senator to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, didn’t support Sander’s resolution, nor did Senator Chris Murphy, who previously said he was open to placing conditions on aid to Israel.
Sander’s resolution invoked a little-known code of the decades-old US foreign aid law, which Congress last invoked during the 1970s in a bid to gain more oversight on Foreign Policy amid the fallout over the war in Vietnam.
The arcane law allows Congress to ask the State Department for an assessment on whether a recipient of US aid is in compliance with human rights law. If the report is not provided within 30 days, then US military assistance is severed.
Even the debate over the resolution fell far short of the type of arguments critics of Israel and its Gaza offensive would hope for.
Senator Jeff Merkley, who voted to keep Sander’s resolution alive, said in a speech on the Senate floor before the vote, “I’m here tonight still supporting strongly Israel’s right to go after Hamas, but also saying that we have a responsibility to ask hard questions about how a war is conducted.”
"Anyone who cares about human rights should be disappointed if not disgusted by the Senate’s vote tonight," one user on the social media platform, X, said after the vote.
US President Joe Biden himself has described the Israeli bombing campaign on Gaza, which has killed over 24,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, as “indiscriminate”.
The administration says it is pressing for more humanitarian aid to Gaza and a reduction in the intensity of Israel’s offensive, but said Sander’s resolution was not the “right vehicle to address these issues”.
The fact that a resounding majority of Democrats voted to kill Sander’s bill gives Biden breathing space to continue his policy.
Israel receives about $3.8bn in military aid from the US annually and the administration has requested an additional $14bn, but that is languishing in Congress amid a debate with Republicans over immigration.
But the Biden administration also faces more calibrated criticism of the way it is funnelling arms to Israel.
The White House has twice bypassed Congress to provide Israel with emergency tank shells and components for 155mm artillery shells.
Senator Tim Kaine, who voted to kill the Sander’s resolution, has introduced an amendment to the US national security spending bill, that would require Congress to be notified of any arms transfers to Israel.
Senator Van Hollen has introduced an amendment to ensure that US weapons received by any country are used in accordance with humanitarian and US laws.
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