FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11.20.2024
Media Contact: Beth Miller | beth@jvp.org |224-622-4470
Liv Kunins-Berkowitz | liv@jvp.org | 510-314-7660
Nineteen Senators Vote to Block Weapons Shipments to Israel
“Over a year into the U.S.-backed genocidal Israeli military campaign of slaughter, starvation, and annihilation against Palestinians, it is unconscionable that the majority of the Senate voted to continue arming Israel unconditionally. But this vote was proof of a permanent rupture in the once unquestioning bipartisan support for the Israeli government’s atrocities against Palestinians and a critical step toward ending the flow of lethal weapons to the Israeli government.”
Washington, DC (November 18, 2024) — Moments ago, the Senate voted for the first time in history on whether to block U.S. weapons sales to the Israeli government. While the resolutions did not pass, a total of 19 Senators – including seven members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – voted in support of one or more of the resolutions. This is an unprecedented show of Senate opposition to President Biden’s disastrous foreign policy of unconditional support for the Israeli military. The failure of the resolutions to pass also makes very clear the work still needed to finally force Congress to end U.S. complicity in the Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
“In spite of immense pressure from President Biden and the pro-war lobby, an unprecedented number of Democratic Senators – close to half of the Senate Democratic caucus – voted in favor of halting weapons shipments to the Israeli military. Over a year into the U.S.-backed genocidal Israeli military campaign of slaughter, starvation, and annihilation against Palestinians, it is unconscionable that the majority of the Senate continues to support arming Israel. But this vote was proof of a permanent rupture in the once unquestioning bipartisan support for the Israeli government’s atrocities against Palestinians and a critical step toward ending the flow of lethal weapons to the Israeli government.” – Beth Miller, Political Director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action
Senators who voted in favor of one or more of the three resolutions are Senators Tim Kaine (VA), Bernie Sanders (VT), Peter Welch (VT), Jeff Merkley (OR), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Brian Schatz (HI), Dick Durbin (IL), Ben Ray Luján (NM), Chris Murphy (CT), Ed Markey (MA), Angus King (ME), Jon Ossoff (GA), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Raphael Warnock (GA), George Helmy (NJ), Tina Smith (MN), Martin Heinrich (NM), and Mazie Hirono (HI).
After 13 months of the Israeli government’s brutal U.S.-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, Senator Bernie Sanders brought for a vote Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block a series of weapons sales to the Israeli government. These sales, approved by the Biden administration in August, are in violation of existing U.S. law and policy and to deepen U.S. complicity in the Israeli military’s genocide against Palestinians, and to fuel a regional war.
The same day as the Senate vote, the Biden administration was the sole veto against a ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council and was simultaneously lobbying Senators to continue arming Israel. It has never been more clear that the Biden administration’s rhetoric in support of a ceasefire is hollow and meaningless. JVP Action calls on Senators to now push even harder for a full weapons embargo on the Israeli government to end U.S. complicity in this genocide before the Trump regime comes into power.
JVP Action drove over 128,000 letters and more than 36,000 calls from constituents to Senators, urging them to support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval. JVP Action members across the country held meetings with Senate offices, organized phonebanks, held demonstrations, and sent open letters representing Jewish Americans across seven states, all demanding that their elected officials finally take action to block these weapons to the Israeli government.
For decades, the U.S. has helped Israel systematically violate international law with impunity. The Israeli government has shown — time and again — that it does not respond to warnings or stern words. The U.S. must end its complicity in the Israeli government’s war crimes, and stop violating its own existing laws and policies by stopping the flow of weapons to Israel.
JVP Action staff are available to speak with the media
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JVP Action is an independent, non-partisan, 501(c)(4) political and advocacy partner organization of Jewish Voice for Peace. It is a multiracial, intergenerational movement of Jews and allies working towards justice and equality in Israel/Palestine by transforming U.S. policy.