Yesterday we learned that a group of anti-Israel Democrats in the House had been working on a plan to cancel or delay a pending arms sale to Israel. The move had been driven largely by “the squad” and some other fans of the Palestinians in the lower chamber. The effort was finally defeated after Steny Hoyer and a few other pro-Isreal Democrats stepped in. But that doesn’t mean that the scheduled sale is out of the woods yet. This morning it was announced that Senator Bernie Sanders is introducing a resolution of disapproval intended to accomplish the same purpose. But does he really think the votes exist to pull this off, particularly while Israel remains under daily attack by barrages of Hamas rockets? (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. is preparing to introduce a resolution on Thursday disapproving of the U.S. sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel, according to a draft obtained by the Washington Post.
The resolution aims to halt the planned sale to Israel by the Biden administration of JDAMs, or Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and Small Diameter Bombs, as the worst hostilities in years continue between Israel and Hamas. The resolution needs only a simple majority to pass the Senate; but if it were to be vetoed by President Joe Biden, it would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to take effect.
“At a moment when U.S.-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a congressional debate,” Sanders said in a statement to the Post.
Personally, I’m all in favor of having Sanders bring this resolution to a vote on the Senate floor. Let’s let them go ahead and have that debate and then have everyone go on the record. I think it would be useful to see just how many of these weasels are willing to step up to the plate and put their names down as officially being in favor of abandoning one of America’s closest and most loyal allies while they are under daily attack by Iranian backed terrorists.
Of course, the sale really shouldn’t be in much danger. Since there will not be a single Republican vote in favor of such a resolution, Sanders would need every single Democrat in the Senate to vote in favor of it. The biggest obstacle likely standing in the way is Chuck Schumer, who has traditionally been one of the stronger supporters of Isreal in Washington. He’s been trying to keep his head down during this debate, but on Monday he came out and gave a rather milquetoast statement saying “he agrees” with two Democrats in the House who said that they want to see a ceasefire, but the sale still needs to go through. There are other Democrats remaining in the Senate who have also traditionally been friends of Israel.
Even in the hypothetical case that Sanders could get the resolution to pass, it would still need to be signed by Joe Biden. And he’s the one who originally approved of the sale to begin with. Biden has been clucking his tongue at Netanyahu lately, saying that the military conflict with Hamas needs to end. (As if Israel can magically stop the rockets from raining down on them by not firing back.) But even with that lack of verbal support, I don’t believe that Uncle Joe is so far gone around the bend that he’s suddenly going to sign on with the BDS crowd.
Even though Donald Trump defeated expectations by capturing 30.5% of the Jewish vote in 2020, more than 60% of American Jews still voted for Joe Biden. And they continue to show up for congressional Democrats fairly reliably. You really have to ask yourself why.
