‘Complicit in All These Atrocities’: Sanders Condemns US Role in Gaza
Senate defeats Vermont independent’s attempt to stop weapons flow to Israel
Sen Bernie Sanders called the United States “complicit” in the deaths of more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza because the Biden administration has continued to supply weapons to Israel’s far-right government.
The progressive Vermont independent blasted the Biden government this week during a blistering speech on the Senate floor.
Sanders spoke in support of an effort he led to halt the transfer of a new tranche of weapons to Israel via a tool called the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, or JRD.
The Senate ultimately defeated that Sanders-led effort.
Israel invaded Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu undertook a brutal campaign that not only targeted Hamas militants but slaughtered thousands of innocent women, children and others.
Also this week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif for war crimes committed during and after the October 7 attacks.
Sanders called the actions of the Netanyahu government in Gaza “unspeakable.”
“But what makes it even more painful is that much of this has been done with U.S. weapons and American taxpayer dollars. In the last year alone, the U.S. has provided $18 billion in military aid to Israel, $18 billion — and by the way, a few blocks from here, people are sleeping on the street — and we have also delivered more than 50,000 tons of military equipment to Israel,” he said. “Fifty-thousand tons.
“In another words, Madam President, the United States of America is complicit in all of these atrocities. We are funding these atrocities,” Sanders added. “That complicity must end, and that is what these resolutions are about.
“It is time to tell the Netanyahu government that they cannot use U.S. taxpayer dollars and American weapons in violation of U.S. and international law and our moral values.”
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