WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing several resolutions that would stop more than $20 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel, a longshot effort but the most substantive pushback yet from Congress over the devastation in Gaza ahead of the first year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war.
In a letter to Senate colleagues on Wednesday, Sanders said the U.S. 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 U.S.-provided military equipment,” Sanders, I-Vt., wrote.
As the war grinds toward a second year, and with the outcome of President Joe Biden’s efforts to broker a cease-fire deal and hostage release uncertain, the resolutions from Sanders would seek to reign in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assault on Gaza. The war has killed some 41,000 people in Gaza after the surprise Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, and abducted 250 others, with militants still holding around 100 hostages.
While it’s doubtful the politically split Senate would pass the measures, the move is designed to send a message to the Netanyahu regime that its war effort is eroding the U.S.'s longtime bipartisan support for Israel. Sanders said he is working with other colleagues on the measures.
[...]
Under the Senate rules, once Sanders introduces the resolutions next week, he can force a vote almost instantly for consideration. The measures are being proposed as a joint resolution of disapproval of the arms sales, which is a mechanism that allows congressional oversight of foreign affairs.
Sanders said he would have some backing for his proposal. But it is not expected to have support from a majority, 51 votes, in the Senate to pass.
In the House, blocking the Israeli arms sales would face even tougher odds, where Republicans hold the majority, and have largely sided with Netanyahu’s approach to the war with Hamas.
Still a zionist POS, hope he rots
I'm asking this in good faith.
Background: I am very leftist, card carrying DSA member, etc.
I remember being angry with Bernie for not immediately decrying the genocide in Gaza but it seems he's completely flipped and is one of the few people in Congress speaking out against the US's support for Israel.
I think it's highly likely that he was influenced by fear of reprisal from AIPAC. He even mentions how AIPAC torpedoed two primaries for members of "the squad".
Anyway, I like Bernie mostly. Is there still a genuine reason to throw him out like a baby with the bathwater?
I recently heard Obama talk about the "circular firing squad", where perfect is the enemy of good and progressive forces tear each other down for the smallest ideological differences.
I'm hoping to hear from a few voices in lemmygrad and hexbear on their thoughts.
Edit:
Maybe I asked the wrong question. I hate Democrats, possibly more than I hate Republicans or Trump supporters. At least the Trump supporters I could write off as too ignorant, undereducated and manipulated to know better.
I joined the DSA, donated, did phone banking, went to events, and should be more involved but sometimes I can't be.
What is the call to action? What can I do? If there were socialist candidates locally I would absolutely vote for them but at the presidential level I have no other option but to vote Democrat if we want to stand a chance at preserving democracy. For my own mental health I have to have some faith that there are some mainstream voices that have a prayer of a chance of pushing the Overton window to the left.
If this is just a thing where I must present two faces, one true one where I roast libs for being horrible and another fake one where I have to have a soft voice and try to gently move my lib friends towards sanity, then that makes sense too.
I just felt hopeful for the first time in years that the US could be slightly better than the dystopian shithole that it is.
Edit 2:
This is the forum for being true and telling it like it is. Even if I like some parts of Bernie that doesn't mean that hating the rest of him isn't true as well.
Okay, this single sentence entirely changed how I was going to answer you. I need to ask: do you think that Obama is a good source on wisdom for actually making a change as big as the US ceasing to support a genocide? Like, you think he has a point here? This "perfect is the enemy of good" is used by Democrats to gather support for the genocide, which is the implicit "good" there. Like, I'd like to explain to you the futility of supporting the Democrats, but I feel like I need to start in a completely different place.
Do we have a playbook for working with the existing system?
If I were to take the sentiment here on lemmy it would seem that we wouldn't want to work with them at all.
We know What is to be Done
True. I wish. I was hoping for some steps in between. 😓
Building power outside of lliberal democracy and electoral politics is the step in between. The idea of using entering into the dem party and taking it over as a vehicle of change has proven to be a dead end. Engaging with it and allowing people to think opportunists like AOC represent the left or socialism is detrimental at this point