A group of Democrats and Sanders drafted a proposal with additional requirements for receiving aid
By Nicole Gaudiano and Warren Rojas
Sen. Bernie Sanders has been a key ally in many of Joe Biden’s biggest legislative battles during his presidency.
But not now.
The Vermont liberal is pushing back hard – and vocally – against Biden’s appeal to Congress for billions in aid to Israel, arguing the war against Hamas is being waged in an “immoral” and illegal way and that the U.S. should not be complicit as civilian Palestinians are killed and displaced.
As Biden’s support for Israel remains steadfast, Sanders has called for conditioning aid on fundamental changes in Israel’s military and political positions. On Wednesday, Sanders, who is Jewish, voted with Republicans to block consideration of an emergency spending bill with more than $10 billion for Israel. His vote came after he blasted out a letter to his Senate colleagues, opposing the “inhumane military approach” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “right-wing extremist government.”
The progressive leader has been largely supportive of Biden’s legislative agenda since the two ran against each other in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, and he endorsed Biden’s reelection bid early, ruling out his own third bid. But Israel’s war against Hamas has created a schism between the two rivals-turned-allies while upsetting the cohesion Biden has enjoyed within the Democratic Party.
While polling shows increased support among Democrats for Biden’s handling of the war, Biden’s firm backing of Israel risks alienating young voters and progressives – Sanders’ supporters – whose turnout will be key to his reelection.
“The United States needs to be doing more to hold the Netanyahu government accountable for unacceptable levels of civilian casualties,” Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told The Messenger, adding that he’s let the White House know as much.
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On Thursday, Van Hollen announced a draft amendment with 11 other Democrats and Sanders that would require that the weapons received by any country under the funding bill comply with U.S. law, international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict.
“They have to show us that they're minimizing loss of civilian life as they continue their fight,” Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii told The Messenger.
'A worthwhile thought'
Biden says he has encouraged Netanyahu to limit the casualties. He’s also under pressure to do more to push for the release of U.S. hostages, believed to be taken by Hamas.
Last month, he called conditioning aid to Israel “a worthwhile thought,” but then said that policy may have prevented them from negotiating a pause in the fighting that ultimately led to more than 100 hostages being released. “We have to take this a piece at a time,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, told The Messenger that the U.S. has always conditioned aid on compliance with international and domestic U.S. law.
“With Israel, specifically, I have urged that the US condition aid on moving toward a two-state solution,” said Warren, who signed onto Van Hollen’s amendment.
Sanders has said he supports Israel’s right to defend itself. But he told The Messenger that stopping unnecessary bloodshed is paramount and he had hoped that the pause in the fight would have been extended “so that we can stop the killing, free the hostages, and get the humanitarian aid in that is so desperately needed.”
Sanders has called for an end to the “blank check approach” to Israel and said the U.S. needs to use its substantial leverage in the region.
“The truth is that if asking nicely worked, we wouldn’t be in the position we are today,” he said in a Senate floor speech.
Biden’s biggest challenge in passing a massive emergency spending package with aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific has been with Republicans who have been pushing for policy changes to halt migration at the U.S. border, even as the administration sounds dire warnings about time running out to help Ukraine fight Russia.
But since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel that killed 1,200, some progressives have called for a ceasefire or at least a pause to the violence that has killed more than 17,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 2 million.
“It's just a humanitarian catastrophe there,” said Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.
On Friday, the U.S. blocked a United Nations Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza that would have also demanded the release of hostages and humanitarian access.
Administration officials, however, have ramped up their criticism of Netanyahu, with Vice President Kamala Harris saying “Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians."
The U.S. has been speaking with Israelis about “deliberate and precise targeting for quite some time,” and they have been “receptive” to the input, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Friday.
They’ve taken some steps to be more careful, based on American counsel, such as a smaller movement into North Gaza than originally planned and leaflet dropping in the past few days, with maps of areas where people can and can’t go.
“We certainly all recognize, more can be done to try to reduce civilian casualties, and we're gonna keep working with our Israeli counterparts to that end,” Kirby said.