Bernie Sanders Wants To Debate Israeli Bombing of Gaza
Senator wants to use provision of the Foreign Assistance Act
One of the Senate’s most prominent progressives plans to use a key provision of the Foreign Assistance Act to force a debate on the bombing being carried out by the Israeli government against the civilian population of Gaza.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Thursday introduced a resolution under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act to force a debate on the bombing carried out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government which has left nearly 20,000 Palestinian civilians killed — including thousands of children and women — since Israel began its military operations in Gaza following the brutal October 7 attacks by Hamas.
The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits security assistance to any government “which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” Section 502B(c) of the law allows Congress to request information on a country’s human rights practices – such requests are privileged, allowing the sponsor to force a floor vote on the requesting resolution.
If the resolution passes, the State Department omust submit the requested report within 30 days, or all security assistance to the country in question is cut off. After the report is received, Congress may then enact changes to condition, reduce, or terminate the security assistance in question.
Both the initial vote to request the information and any subsequent votes to alter security assistance are privileged and require a simple majority for passage.
“We all know Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack began this war,” Sanders said. “But the Netanyahu government’s indiscriminate bombing is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the Congress must demand answers about the conduct of this campaign. A just cause for war does not excuse atrocities in the conduct of that war.”
The proposed Sanders resolution acknowledges Israel’s right to respond to the horrific Hamas terrorist attack and details how Israel’s indiscriminate response, including the use of massive explosive ordinance in densely populated urban areas, has devastated Gaza and caused tremendous loss of civilian life. Among the thousands killed include 135 UN aid workers, while 1.9 million people have been displaced, more than 85 percent of the population.
Some 60 percent of Gaza’s housing stock has been destroyed, comparable to Dresden after two years of bombing during World War II, and more than 100 UN facilities have been hit, according to a statement from Sanders’ Senate office.
Israel has relied on U.S.-provided arms in this campaign, including widespread use of explosive ordinance like 2,000-pound bombs and 155mm artillery in well-documented strikes that led to large numbers of civilian deaths.
Sanders said: “The scale of the suffering in Gaza is unimaginable – it will be remembered among some of the darkest chapters of our modern history. This is a humanitarian cataclysm, and it is being done with American bombs and money. We need to face up to that fact – and then we need to end our complicity in those actions.”
The Sanders resolution would request the State Department report on any violations of internationally recognized human rights caused by indiscriminate or disproportionate military operations in Gaza, as well as the blanket denial of basic humanitarian needs. It also requests information on actions the United States has taken to limit civilian risk caused by Israeli military action, a certification that Israeli security forces have not committed any human rights violations, a summary of arms provided to Israel since October 7, and an assessment of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law in Gaza.
Read the bill text, here.
And read a one-page summary here.
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