Bernie Sanders preparing resolutions to block $20b in US arms sales to Israel

US Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing several resolutions that would stop more than $20 billion in US arms sales to Israel, a longshot effort but the most substantive pushback yet from Congress over the war in Gaza.

In a letter to Senate colleagues, Sanders said the US cannot be “complicit in this humanitarian disaster.” The action would force an eventual vote to block the arms sales to Israel, though majority passage is highly unlikely.

“Much of this carnage in Gaza has been carried out with US-provided military equipment,” Sanders, an Independent of Vermont, writes.

While it’s doubtful the politically split Senate would pass the measures, the move is designed to send a message to the Netanyahu government that its war effort is eroding the US’s longtime bipartisan support for Israel. Sanders says he is working with other colleagues on the measures.