Senate rejects bid to block key arms transfers to Israel

WASHINGTON — An effort by a group of Senate lawmakers to restrict some of the Biden administration’s continued flow of weapons to Israel fell far short of the needed votes on Wednesday night, despite mounting evidence of war crimes in Gaza.

The three Joint Resolutions of Disapproval aimed to block the transfer of some $20 billion in 120mm tank rounds, 120mm high-explosive mortar rounds and Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits for air-dropped unguided bombs, which rights groups have documented as having harmed non-combatants and destroyed civilian infrastructure amid Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

All three resolutions were led by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont back in September, with backing from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and others. They were broadly defeated by 18-79, 19-78, and 17-80, respectively.

“The truth of the matter is, from a legal perspective, these resolutions are not complicated,” Sanders said in a press conference Tuesday ahead of the vote. 

“The United States government is currently in violation of the law,” Sanders argued.

“The Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Control Export Act are very clear: The United States cannot provide weaponry to countries that violate internationally recognized human rights or block US humanitarian aid," he said, before labeling the United States "complicit in these atrocities."

Other senators backing the resolutions argued along similar lines, citing both legal and moral mores. "American-supplied weapons must be used in accordance with international humanitarian law," Van Hollen said Tuesday, citing the Biden administration's own internal policy guidelines.

The Israeli military campaign, which kicked off in October 2023 in response to an indiscriminate Hamas assault on southern Israel, has since killed more than 43,000 Palestinians — an estimated 60% of them women and children — displaced the nearly the entirety of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million inhabitants and kept the enclave on the verge of famine for much of the last year.

The European Union, United Nations, Oxfam and other international bodies have accused Israel of intentionally blocking the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a war crime under international law. Earlier this year, two of the State Department's top bureaus reached the same conclusion before Secretary of State Antony Blinken overruled the finding. 

Last week the Biden administration allowed its own 30-day deadline for Israel to meet specific benchmarks for drastically increasing humanitarian aid into Gaza — or else face potential halt to US arms transfers — to pass without consequence, despite Israel's failure to meet the requirements.

Some lawmakers who spoke out against the measures on Wednesday echoed arguments privately distributed by the Biden administration to Senators, including that the joint resolutions' passage could spoil diplomatic progress towards a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon by putting "the wind in the sails" of the Shia militant party and its Iranian backers.

"This signal will be seen as the enemies of Israel, and the enemies of peace, that if they just stick with it, they will win," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argued on the floor.

The defeat of the joint resolutions was anticipated, but still poses a blow to those lawmakers hoping to stymie the Biden administration’s full-bore support for Israel’s war campaign before the outgoing president leaves office. Yet it held symbolic significance, marking the first time the Senate has held a vote on a joint resolution to block arms sales against Israel. Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat from Virginia and a close ally of Biden's, voted in support of all three of the measures. 

It remains unclear whether Sanders, Van Hollen or other lawmakers may mount another attempt to block arms sales before the new Congress takes office in January. 

Republicans’ capture of majorities in both the House and Senate signals reinvigorated support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's direction of the campaign, although President-elect Donald Trump has suggested he wants the Israeli leader to end the war.

Netanyahu has continued to press the IDF's overstretched battalions onward in Gaza despite objections from some senior IDF leaders, who have warned their forces risk getting bogged down in an endless cycle of fighting.

The Biden administration called on Israel once again to end to the campaign after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last month but has continued to send arms. 

“To our allies in Israel, and to the Jewish people around the world, my message to you is this: Reinforcements are on the way,” incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) tweeted on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, Thune publicly urged outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to bring a bill to impose sanctions on the members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague in response to its investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes.

Calling the ICC's inquiry “outrageous” and “illegal,” Thune vowed Senate Republicans will use their majority come January to push the bill through if Schumer fails to bring it to the floor.

“The ICC rogue actions are a threat to our ally Israel and, if left unchecked, could pose a threat to America in the future,” he told reporters.

The House passed a similar bill in June after ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan sought arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders accused of complicity in alleged war crimes in Gaza.

President Biden, who ran his 2020 presidential campaign promising a human rights-based foreign policy, also slammed the ICC's request as "outrageous" in a statement in May.

"I don't spend a lot of time worried about my legacy," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters traveling with him in Laos on Wednesday, when asked whether he had any concerns that Israel's campaign would tarnish his legacy as Pentagon chief.

"I have consistently emphasized that you can be effective and achieve your objectives and also protect humans or civilians in the battle space, as well," Austin said.