WASHINGTON: The plight of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank echoed in the US Senate on Tuesday evening as senators debated a resolution questioning US aid to Israel.

The lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected the move by Senator Bernie Sanders, a former presidential candidate, to tie US aid to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians but he did succeed in generating a passionate debate on the issue.

The Senate voted 72 to 11 against the resolution, with nine Democrats, and one Republican, Rand Paul, supporting Sanders.

The Hill, a Washington newspaper focusing on Congressional activities, observed that “the number of Democrats who supported the measure reflects rising dissatisfaction among progressives over the civilian casualties in Gaza, which are now said to exceed 24,000.”

The newspaper pointed out that those backing the proposal were “sending a pointed message to President Joe Biden that the war in Gaza is becoming a major problem for his party.” By pushing the resolution, Sanders drew attention to the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Even those opposing the resolution acknowledged the pressing need for a cessation of hostilities in the region.

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, said he was “deeply concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, adding that Israel “should be shifting to a more targeted campaign against Hamas in Gaza and doing more to protect civilians.”

Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said that allegations of human rights violations by Israel would be subject to scrutiny but deemed the resolution an inappropriate approach.

Senator Tom Carper of Delaware said he would favor an alternative measure introduced by Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, which mandates that weapons provided to Israel and Ukraine adhere to US laws, international humanitarian laws, and the law of armed conflict.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, known for scrutinising human rights abuses by US allies, said he too had reservations about Israel’s military campaign. All of them voted against Sanders’s resolution because they support Israel’s right to self- defence and disapproved cutting off funding for Israel.

The vote, however also showed that Israel still enjoys bipartisan support in Congress despite growing concern about the war in Gaza. Sanders used a rarely invoked provision in the Foreign Assistance Act allowing him to force a vote on a resolution directing the State Department to send a report to Congress on Israel’s human rights record.

The report would have examined whether Israel has denied “the right to life” to residents of the West Bank and Gaza through “indiscriminate or disproportionate” military operations or restrictions on humanitarian aid.

It would also have looked at whether US aid to Israel violates statutes restricting US aid to foreign military units facing credible charges of “gross violations of human rights.”

If the State Department had failed to issue the report within 30 days, US assistance to Israel would be immediately halted.

Sanders, a prominent critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the Gaza conflict, labeled it as “immoral” on Tuesday. He passionately addressed his colleagues about the increasing death toll and the extensive use of American-supplied weaponry in densely populated civilian areas.

“Whether we like it or not, the United States is complicit in the nightmare that millions of Palestinians are now experiencing,” he declared on the Senate floor, warning that hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza “are starving right before our eyes.”

He cited media reports that Israel dropped more than 22,000 US-supplied bombs on Gaza in a six-week span, including 2,000-pound bombs that can destroy entire neighborhoods.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024