US Senate clears weapons sale to Israel, but Gaza hunger crisis breaks bipartisan support to Netanyahu

Amid rising opposition to Israel’s war among Americans, more than half of Democratic senators on Wednesday opposed the sale of new weapons to Israel.

While Israel had long enjoyed bipartisan support in the US Congress, it has now collapsed over the death and destruction that the Israeli war has brought in the Gaza Strip . Moreover, the hunger crisis that has gripped the Palestinian enclave in recent weeks over Israel’s restrictions on the flow of aid have led to unprecedented outrage against the war across the world.

Senator Bernie Sanders moved two motions — one to block the sale of bombs and another to block the sale of 20,000 rifles to Israel. More than half of the Democratic senators —27— voted to block the sale of rifles and 24 voted to block the sale of bombs.

However, the sales will still go ahead as Republican senators joined the remainder of Democrats in the Senate to defeat these motions.

Netanyahu loses bipartisan support for Israel

Irrespective of the motions’ defeat, the fact that more than half of the Democrats voted to oppose arms sales suggests that the Israel’s war in Gaza no longer has the support even among lawmakers who have supported Israel’s right of self-defence and have condemned the terrorism of Hamas.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who voted to block arms sales, said that his vote was a message to Netanyahu.

“As a longtime friend and supporter of Israel, I am voting yes to send a message: the Netanyahu government cannot continue with this strategy,” said Murray.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said it was “impossible” to explain the situation in Gaza and that’s why she had voted against the arm sales.

“For many of us who have devoted our congressional careers to supporting Israel, standing by them through difficult times, it is impossible to really explain or defend what is going on today. Gaza is starving and dying because of the policies of Bibi Netanyahu,” said Durbin.

Support for Israel’s war falls to all-time low

The opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza among Democrats is a reflection of the American public opinion.

The support among Americas for the Israeli war in Gaza has fallen to an all-time low, with just 32 per cent Americans supporting the war and merely 8 per cent of Democratic Party voters supporting it, according to a Gallup survey released this week.

Capturing the public sentiment, Sanders said that Democrats’ vote against the arms sales was in line with “a significant majority of the American people who are tired of spending billions and billions of dollars on an Israeli government which is currently starving children to death”.