US Senate to vote on Hail Mary resolution aiming to condition aid to Israel on human rights benchmarks

The US Senate will vote on a resolution submitted by Sen. Bernie Sanders that aims to condition security aid to Israel on human rights benchmarks.

The resolution has no chance of passing, given the overwhelming support for security assistance to Israel in Congress. The outliers who oppose it are a small but growing far-left flank of the Democratic Party along with a handful of Republican libertarians who oppose all foreign aid. Both flanks are even smaller on the Senate side where the vote is taking place.

Sanders’s resolution seeks to freeze all US security aid to Israel unless the State Department issues a report within 30 days that examines whether the IDF committed human rights violations in the conduct of its war in Gaza.

“There is growing concern among the American people and in Congress that what Israel is doing now is not a war against Hamas, but a war against the Palestinian people,” Sanders tells The New York Times. “That with American military aid, children are starving to death… It’s disgraceful, and I think I’m not the only one who feels that.”

The Democratic White House has come out against the bill, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby calling it “unworkable.”

“The Israelis have indicated they are preparing to transition their operations to a much lower intensity. And we believe that transition will be helpful both in terms of reducing civilian casualties, as well as increasing humanitarian assistance,” Kirby says.