Congressional Debate over Israel and Hamas

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — “We as Americans are deeply complicit in all that is happening in Gaza,” declares U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Capitol Hill.

Are we? Sanders accused his fellow citizens of complicity when he proposed two resolutions the other week to obstruct $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel. He charged that Israel has used American military aid to indiscriminately kill thousands of Gazans and block humanitarian aid to civilians.

“What we are talking about is a mass atrocity,” Sanders said on the Senate floor on Thursday, April 3, as quoted in the HuffPost news website. “I don’t know why they need any more bombs, they’ve basically destroyed the entire area. Nothing much left to destroy.”

Anyone following the carnage in Gaza for the last 18 months could at least wonder what Israel is trying to do. Most of us understand that Israel had to respond to Hamas’ savage attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but has Israel gone beyond what is necessary?

Sen. James Risch of Idaho retorted, “They would abandon Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East, during a pivotal moment for global security.”

So which argument should prevail? Neither.

Maybe Sanders, an independent from Vermont, is right. It is possible that Israel has gone too far. As for Risch, we do not want to risk weakening Israel’s military capabilities.

Does anyone notice that Sanders and other champions of the Palestinians never call out Hamas’ source of weapons? None of them ever urge stopping the flow of arms to Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Not fair, of course. They want to restrict military aid to Israel, but not for Arab terrorists. Sanders’ resolutions might be credible if this was a two-way street. It is not. Israel and the Palestinians have not been placed on equal footing.

Critics accuse Israel of committing genocide with its attacks on Gaza, and they are silent on Hamas’ genocide that triggered this conflict on Oct. 7. The same critics insist on a cease-fire, and Hamas refuses to release the remaining hostages. They do not mention that a cease-fire stemming from previous hostilities was violated on Oct. 7 by virtue of Hamas’ invasion.

It is not clear at this time if Hamas is still acquiring or manufacturing weapons. Even if the terrorist group is not doing this, nobody questioned how Hamas was being supplied in preparation for Oct. 7 and the ensuing 18 months.

The standards have been one-sided since the outset. How can we take their assertions seriously?

Congress never did. The Senate voted 82-15 and 83-15 to turn down two resolutions of disapproval for sales of massive bombs and other offensive military equipment, according to Reuters.

Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit and Pramila Jayapal of Seattle introduced a version of Sanders’ resolutions in the House, The HuffPost reports.

Sanders was joined by 14 Democrats, four fewer than Sanders’ previous attempt last November. “It’s disgraceful that some senators flipped their support and now agree to slaughter children with U.S. bombs,” Tlaib wrote. “We will remember who agreed to send 35,000 one-ton bombs to kill Palestinians.”

She could care less about “who agreed to send” weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah to kill Jews. Tlaib personifies why we must keep moving arms to Israel.

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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist