US Senate fails to pass trio of measures to block some offensive arms sales to Israel

The US Senate overwhelmingly rejected Wednesday evening a trio of resolutions that would have halted three offensive arms sales to Israel in response to ongoing "atrocities" being carried out in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The measures, known formally as joint resolutions of disapproval, were introduced by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. They would have blocked a $774.1 million sale of 120mm tank rounds, $61.1 million in 120mm high-explosive mortar rounds, and $262 million in JDAM guidance kits.

All of the sales were notified to Congress during the summer recess in August.

Roughly one-fifth of the Senate voted in favor of the resolutions during separate rounds of voting, but each failed to clear what is known as a motion to discharge to be considered for a floor vote.

The measures failed 18-79, 17-57 and 17-80 respectively. They nonetheless represent a significant rebuke for President Joe Biden after much of the support they received came from his fellow Democrats, as well as the Independents with whom they caucus.

"What this extremist government has done in Gaza is unspeakable, but what makes it even more painful is that much of this has been done with US weapons and American taxpayer dollars. In the last year alone, the US has provided $18 billion in military aid to Israel and delivered more than 50,000 tons of military equipment," Sanders said on the Senate floor ahead of the votes.

"The United States of America is complicit in all of these atrocities. We are funding these atrocities. That complicity must end, and that is what these resolutions are about," he added.

Some of the lawmakers who voted against blocking the sale of the JDAMs, equipment that effectively turns a dumb bomb into a guided munition, questioned why anyone would be opposed to sending Israel the kits.

"Apparently, Sen. Sanders would prefer that Israelis use less accurate weapons to eliminate terrorists," said Republican Sen. Ted Budd.

"Now it doesn't take anything more than common sense to realize that this would make collateral damage even more likely. In Sen. Sanders' zeal to undermine our ally, he would make it more likely that Palestinian civilians, who Hamas intentionally uses as human shields, could be killed."

In response, Sanders said Israel has been using JDAMs to target UN-run schools "packed with displaced people" and refugee centers, attacks that have killed "large numbers of innocent people."

"A smart bomb does not save civilian lives when it is directly targeting civilians," he said.

Scott Paul, the director of the peace and security program at Oxfam America, said that while the Senate's failure represents "another bitter disappointment," the votes nonetheless show that "more Democratic senators, and more people across the US, are unwilling to be complicit in the atrocities that Israel is committing in Gaza."

"It's excruciating that this change is happening too slowly to save lives today, but it points to a future in which the US is committed, in policy rather than only in rhetoric, to a dignified future for all Palestinians and Israelis," he said on X.

Nearly 44,000 people, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, have been killed in Gaza amid Israel's over one-year war there following an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas.

Israeli restrictions on the delivery of badly-needed humanitarian assistance have exacerbated a crisis that was already dire prior to the start of the current conflict but which has grown exponentially worse in the months since.