US Senator Sanders says he will force votes to block $8b in military aid to Israel

Sanders said the Gaza war has been conducted almost entirely with American weapons and $18bn in US taxpayer dollars

By MEE staff

Published date: 28 March 2025 18:10 GMT | Last update: 1 hour 22 mins ago

US Senator Bernie Sanders announced on Thursday that he will force votes on resolutions that would block arms sales to Israel due to an escalating humanitarian crisis amid an Israeli blockade of aid to Gaza.

The Independent senator for Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats, plans next week to force votes on two Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) he has introduced to block the $8.8bn worth of arms sales that President Donald Trump's administration has pledged to Israel.

A JRD can help force a vote because it only gives, in this case, five calendar days for a committee to consider the resolution.

"After this period, sponsor(s) of the resolution can force a floor vote on a motion to discharge the resolution from committee. The resolution is privileged, meaning it cannot be amended or filibustered, and it requires a simple majority for the motion to discharge the resolution from committee and for final passage."

The arms include “35,000 massive 2,000-pound bombs” and other munitions that would enable the Israeli government to continue its 18-month-long bombing campaign of Gaza.

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“No humanitarian aid has entered Gaza in more than three and a half weeks, since Israeli authorities announced a complete blockade - that’s no food, water, medicine, or fuel since the start of March. Blocking humanitarian aid is morally abhorrent and a clear violation of both the Geneva Convention and the Foreign Assistance Act," Sanders said in a statement.

Sanders said the war on Gaza has been conducted almost entirely with American weapons and $18bn in US taxpayer dollars.

“The US must not continue to supply endless amounts of military aid and weaponry to the Netanyahu government. It is particularly unconscionable while President Trump and Israeli officials openly talk of forcibly displacing millions of people from Gaza. There is a name for such a policy - ethnic cleansing - and it’s a war crime."

Sanders added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "clearly violated" US and international law and that the US should end its complicity in the war.

He also said that Israel “had a right to respond against Hamas. But Netanyahu’s extremist government has instead waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people”.

He added that eight aid workers have been killed in Gaza in the last week, bringing the total number of aid workers killed to 399. During the course of the war, over 50,000 people have been killed. 

Previous resolutions

In November, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to block three resolutions introduced by Sanders that would have halted transfers of weapons approved by the administration of then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat who supported Netanyahu with military weapons and material support for its war on Gaza.

US law gives Congress the right to stop major foreign weapons sales by passing resolutions of disapproval. Although no such resolution has passed Congress and survived a presidential veto, the law requires the Senate to vote if a resolution is filed. 

President Trump has reversed Biden’s efforts to place some limits on what arms are sent to Netanyahu’s government.

Last month, Trump sidestepped the congressional review process to approve billions of dollars in military sales to Israel. Trump’s skirting of congressional approval to do so is significant.

During the standard congressional review process, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are notified of the arms sale and given time to raise concerns and ask questions. However, even with questions outstanding from Representative Gregory Meeks, the administration pushed forward with the sale.

In a Republican-dominated Congress with many Democrats eager to support military aid to Israel, lawmakers would almost certainly have signed off on additional military aid. The fact that the Trump administration felt no need to consult them is indicative of a trend to marginalise the legislative branch.