“The truth is that from a legal perspective, these resolutions are not complicated,” Sanders said during a press conference Tuesday, alongside Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Peter Welch, D-Vt.; and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. “They are cut and dry. The United States government is currently in violation of the law, and every member of the Senate who believes in the rule of law should vote for these resolutions.”
Despite aid groups reporting that Israel has continued to block humanitarian aid into Gaza, the White House overlooked the blown deadline last week, saying that it will continue to provide weapons to Israel. The decision stands in direct violation of existing U.S. law preventing the government from sending weapons to countries that block U.S.-backed humanitarian assistance.
With the Biden administration unwilling to act and legislation targeting pro-Palestinian nonprofits still advancing, pro-Palestinian advocates and their allies in Congress argue that passing the joint resolutions is likely the last real opportunity for Democrats to address the crisis in Gaza before Republicans take control in January.
Despite Democrats’ unwillingness to vote for conditioning military aid to Israel in the past, Araabi hopes that at least some of the lame-duck senators who won’t be returning in January will take this opportunity to cement an anti-genocide record.
This would also have to pass the House, which it would not. I agree with Bernie’s statement and respect his choice to put the resolution forth on principle. I do not respect the article author or commentors who are either ignorant of basic U.S. civics, or choosing to be deliberately deceptive in order to place blame solely on Democrats.
Any Democrat that sits on this, instead of voting in line with Sanders and other voices of conscience, is supporting Trump at this point.
The party line that Trump will be worse for Palestine will no longer work. And I will be writing the Democrat from my state to let them know as much.
It’s only because this Senate session is under Democratic control that this is being voted on in the first place. After the new year, and new session, it will be under Republican control, and something like this will never make it to the floor. So yeah, penalize those that will allow a vote versus those that won’t. Same thought process that gives you President Trump.
Did you forget that democrats supported the attack on gaza?
Jfc have some self awareness and realize both sides are doing this bullshit.
He didnt forget, he just doesnt care. Most dems dont care at all about browns in other countries. They occassionally pretend to, for whatever reason, but they are well aware that some bad stuff happen to keep the wheels of the empire oiled.
I don’t think they forgot that, my friend. Everyone knows it.
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No way
Democrats: “should we stop enabling genocide, now that we have absolutely no reason not to?
Gee!
Hmmmm
I dunno maybe?! :D probably not tho lol”
If the logic is “selling these is causing war crimes” they’d have to defined the entire US military. The US regularly breaks the same laws.
Can you give an example from, say, the last decade? Just one example will do.
I mean, trump pardoned a bunch of us government contracted (by the military) mercenaries who were convicted(by a US federal Court) of killing Iraqi civilians in 2014. The act of pardoning such criminals is in itself a war crime, and occurred in 2020.
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It wasn’t a bunch, it was one guy. He was court marshalled, and his own men testified against him. He was found guilty and stripped of rank. He was about to be sentenced to federal lockup for war crimes. THEN Trump pardoned him against the wishes of the US Military. I think your apples and oranges comparison failed.
You asked for one example, I gave you one. Literally the incoming commander in chief committing a war crime 4 years ago.
I didn’t ask you. I clarified for you
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Not this decade, but during the battles of Fallujah we gave the civilians there 24 hours to evacuate, and then after that the official rules of engagement were pretty damn close to “everyone left is presumed to be an Al Qaeda militant.” They were allowed to shoot people with phones or radios in their hands on sight. We also bombed the fuck out of that city, including with white phosphorous. We know WP was used because there was a recorded friendly fire incident with it.
And all of this was basically reprisal for the killings of those four Blackwater mercenaries.
Not this decade
So, no?
I can answer for you. The US betrayal of their Kurdish allies was evil and that was fairly recent.
The reason white phosphorus was used in Fallujah. If you’ve ever been to an Arab city, you’ll note that sometimes in markets, cloth is hung over the streets. This cloth provides shade to shoppers. Fallujah had more of that than usual, it masked movement from sight overhead. So, to get rid of it, they dropped white phosphorus to burn it away.
right, also known as a war crime.
A logical and strategic justification. Still a literal warcrime.
Not really. White phosphorus is used for many things, mostly making smoke. It only becomes a crime when you use it against people.
And, blocked user. You have yourself a nice day now “rapidcreek”
Well, let’s see what Chuck Schumer probably thinks…
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?cycle=All&ind=Q05&recipdetail=S
Number 7 on one of the few bipartisan lists in DC, nestled right between hos buddies Mitch McTurtle and Rafael “Ted” Cruz…
One of the few areas Biden is really head and shoulders above the rest though.
But Israel pays way too much money to both parties for either party’s leaders to actually do what’s best for America.
They’re gonna do what’s best for their campaign donations.
Edit:
Since some people may be surprised number 2 doesn’t sound familiar, it’s this guy:
One of the most corrupt Dems to ever be held accountable (technically the trial is still happening).
He was Hillary’s co-campaign chair in 07 when she lost to Obama, and then Obama made him chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for some fucking reason. He was indicted shortly after in 2018, but charges were then dropped for 5 years till 2023 when he was committing crimes and accepting bribes from foreign government with a legitimately trumpian level of skill at hiding his crimes.
Like, at one point I remember him trying to argue that storing gold bars inside of the suits in his closet was a totally normal thing and not related to him googling how to smuggle gold bars into America while he was in Qatar and just accepted gold bars as bribe…
One of the few areas Biden is really head and shoulders above the rest though.
You get that result if you set the filter to “all” election cycles, but not if you set it to one of the more recent ones. The “all” figure is influenced by the fact that Biden is old and has been through many election cycles.
The “all” figure is influenced by the fact that Biden is old and has been through many election cycles.
Compared to all the sprin chickens on the list like Mitch McConnell?
Probably not. US international relations is heavily driven by an amoral power calculus.
Israel is a major foil to Iran. Iran is an ally of Russia and China and a threat to US interests in the region. Barring an extreme amount of pressure from constituents, which has not reached that threshold as far as I can tell, most US politicians will tolerate almost any human rights abuse from Israel.
This is superficial. Neither Russia nor China are particularly antagonistic to Israel or the Gulf states, even if they see the US as a foe in their own region. Russia for example is very careful about balancing its relations with the Gulf, Israel and Iran. China, views Iran as a potential foothold to the region, but China actually benefits from the US presence, it is far more energy import dependent than the US and has no desire to fuel instability by helping Iran pursue offensive goals.
The actual reason that Iran and the USA are enemies has to do with the US’ sectarian alignment with Sunni powers and Jewish nationalism, and more complicated reasons relating to politicial and religious struggles in the entire region that Iran happens to be one side of (i.e anti-monarchism, clericism, etc). And an institutional (and not necessarily rational) hatred of Iran in the US top brass due to its role in helping Iraqis and Lebanese fight American soldiers.
You cannot talk about this issue in terms of “Russia-China-Iran” balancing without mentioning the deeper and much more relevant issues that make US-Israel relationship exceptional on a globsl level: post-Holocaust philosemetism, anti-Islamism, anti-Arabism and (very underreported) Christian piety that actually motivates US-Israel policy. And the Israel lobby, which is so deeply engrained that Israel is treated more or less like the 51st state.
Politics goes far beyond amoral power calculus. You could have justified a ceasefire and even an embargo on Israeli arm transfers in accordance to amoral power calculus, but for Biden, Blinken and the rest, this is a moral question relating to a transcendent moral and religious cause, steeped in centuries of historical memory.
I have zero doubt that Joe Biden believes that by helping murderous racist Netanyahu slaughter and expel the people of Gaza, he has placed himself in the company of Cyrus the Great and other deliverers of Jews rather than Idi Amin and Radovan Karadzic. The GOP puts such things in explicitly religious terms and thus appear less rational or calculating. But it’s not even that well-hidden in the case of Biden and Blinken given what we know of their careers and lives.
That’s a great analysis. Do you have any books or articles to share on the subject?
It’s more like choosing to stand with Israel against Iran(ian proxies). The same reason they stood with Saudi-Arabia killing so, so many children in Yemen.
These top dog politicians don’t care for religious or moral matters, that’s just for show
lol
They definitely will not.
