WASHINGTON AP - The Senate rejected an effort Wednesday from Sen. Bernie Sanders to block the sale of U.S. bombs and firearms to Israel, though the vote showed a growing number of Democrats opposed to the arms sales amid widespread hunger and suffering in Gaza.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has repeatedly tried to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel over the last year. The resolutions before the Senate on Tuesday would have stopped the sale of 675 million in bombs as well as shipments of 20,000 automatic assault rifles to Israel.
They again failed to gain passage, but 27 Democrats - more than half the caucus - voted for the resolution that applied to assault rifles, and 24 voted for the resolution that applied to bomb sales. It was more than any of Sanders' previous efforts, which at a high mark in November last year gained 18 votes from Democrats. The vote tally showed how the images of starvation emerging from Gaza are creating a growing schism in what has traditionally been overwhelming support for Israel from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
"U.S. taxpayers have spent many, many billions of dollars in support of the racist, extremist Netanyahu government," Sanders said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Enough is enough. Americans want this to end. They do not want to be complicit in an unfolding famine and deadly civilian massacres."
As the war approaches its second year, the leading international authority on food crises said this week that a "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip." International pressure, including from President Donald Trump, has led Israel to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. But the U.N. and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm delivery trucks.