Bernie Sanders could force vote to investigate Israel’s ‘indiscriminate bombing’ of Gaza

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a Senate resolution Friday in an effort to force a vote that would call for an investigation of the “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza, citing the growing civilian death toll.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, announced a proposal intended to force a debate under the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits assistance to any government engaging in a consistent pattern of “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” If the resolution is passed, the administration has to submit a report on the country’s human rights practices within 30 days, or all security assistance to the country automatically stops.

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“We all know Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack began this war,” Sanders said in a statement on Friday. “But the Netanyahu government’s indiscriminate bombing is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the Congress must demand answers about the conduct of this campaign. A just cause for war does not excuse atrocities in the conduct of that war.”

Sanders used the same terms as President Joe Biden, who told donors this week that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must change as dissent around the world continues to grow as a result of his country’s “indiscriminate bombing.” Biden said the United States would continue to provide Israel support in its efforts to root out Hamas from Gaza, but also that he warned Netanyahu about waning public support for Israel’s bombing campaigns among voters.

The resolution from Sanders emphasizes Israel’s right to respond to the Oct. 7 attack on Israelis by Hamas, but he also highlighted the humanitarian woes in Gaza.

“The scale of the suffering in Gaza is unimaginable – it will be remembered among some of the darkest chapters of our modern history,” Sanders said. “This is a humanitarian cataclysm, and it is being done with American bombs and money. We need to face up to that fact – and then we need to end our complicity in those actions.”

It is unclear whether Sanders has enough support to pass the resolution, but its introduction highlights growing concerns about human rights from Capitol Hill progressives.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has 10 days to consider the resolution, according to the senator’s office. After 10 days, the sponsors can force a vote on the motion to discharge the resolution from the committee, which only requires a simple majority because the resolution is privileged. It would then need to clear the Senate by a simple majority, pass the House, and be signed by the president. Congress has not requested such a resolution since 1976.

The effort from Sanders comes after the Vermont senator, who is Jewish, sent a letter to Biden on Tuesday urging the administration to withhold $10.1 billion in military aid to Israel that lawmakers are currently negotiating as part of a national security spending bill, calling Israel’s military operations in Gaza a “mass atrocity.”

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“While there is a moral case for a military response against a brutal terrorist attack, it is clear that the Netanyahu government’s current campaign is being conducted in a deeply immoral way,” Sanders wrote in the letter to Biden. “A just cause for war does not excuse atrocities in the conduct of that war.”

The conflict in Israel has exposed a divide among Democrats, with some of the most liberal criticizing the Biden administration for not pressuring Israel to commit to a ceasefire. After Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack in Israel that killed mostly 1,200 civilians, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry is reporting nearly 19,000 people have been killed in Gaza.