3rd Thursday Alert: Call on the Senate to Block Bombs and Military Equipment to Israel
The United States is now in the second full month of its joint war with Israel on Iran and the region. The war has resulted in more than 3 million Iranians displaced in their own country, and more than 1 million Lebanese displaced following Israeli evacuation orders, occupation of southern Lebanon, and continued military strikes on the south and Beirut. While President Trump has, for now at least, stepped back from acting on his genocidal language, threatening Iran’s “whole civilization will die tonight,” which is illegal under international law and US domestic law, Israel has vowed to continue its war on Lebanon. This is in addition to the 2 million Palestinians displaced and more than 72,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing war against Palestinians there, and its decades-long illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.
During the Biden and Trump Administrations, the United States has continued to supply Israel with military assistance and equipment through grants and arms sales, totaling more than $40 billion since Israel began its devastating military campaign on Gaza two and a half years ago, occasionally bypassing Congressional approval to expedite such transfers. This is part of a much longer historical trajectory that has included more than $300 billion in military and economic aid to Israel in the past 80 years – more than any other country in that period.
In March, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced three Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs – S.J.Res. 136, 137, & 138) to prevent the Trump Administration from sending more than 27,000 bombs, valued at over $650 million, to Israel. Israel has used US-supplied war matériel in its ongoing military campaign on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and in its current wars against Iran and Lebanon. Sen. Sanders also supports a JRD (S.J.Res. 32) to prohibit the sale of D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, which Israel uses for military purposes in the West Bank and Gaza, including to demolish Palestinian homes.
Wars of aggression in the Middle East not only hurt the US economy and further damage the country’s image, but they also have an immense human toll. As Israel has continued to violate US and international law without accountability, US taxpayer-subsidized military aid to Israel must end.
As American support for Israel continues to erode among Democrats and Republicans, including calls to end military aid to Israel, call or write your Senator and urge them to support these four Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to halt US sales and provisions of military arms and equipment to Israel now.
Sample letter:
Dear Senator ______,
Over the past 80 years, the United States has provided Israel with hundreds of billions of US dollars in military aid. This has included $40 billion in the last two and a half years during Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank as well as the US and Israeli war against Iran that has affected the Middle East more broadly. The human cost of this war is staggering, let alone the impact on the US economy and further damage to our country’s image in the region and around the world.
Israel’s two-and-a-half-year war on Gaza and Palestinians has resulted in more than 72,000 Palestinians killed, and almost all of Gaza’s population displaced — most more than one time. Israel now occupies southern Lebanon as it continues to bombard the country, including Beirut, and has displaced more than one million Lebanese.
Through its military wars and operations, violations of human rights, and its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, Israel has continued to violate US and international law without accountability.
I therefore write to urge you to support four Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (S.J. Res. 32, 136, 137, & 138) to prevent the Trump Administration from sending Israel more than 27,000 bombs, valued at over $650 million and to prohibit the sale of D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, which Israel uses for military purposes in the West Bank and Gaza, including to demolish Palestinian homes.
US taxpayer-subsidized military aid to Israel must end, and more Democrats and Republicans agree. As a person of faith, I urge you to support these JRDs.
Sincerely,