Bernie Sanders urges Biden to cut $10 billion in aid to Israel

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sent a letter to President Joe 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.”

“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 a Dec. 12 letter to Biden. “A just cause for war does not excuse atrocities in the conduct of that war.”

WASHINGTON WIZARDS AND CAPITALS ANNOUNCE PLANS TO DITCH DC AND MOVE TO VIRGINIA

Sanders, who is Jewish, took his criticism a step further, asking Biden to support a ceasefire resolution the U.S. recently vetoed at a U.N. Security Council meeting. The Vermont senator had previously refused to call for a permanent ceasefire by Israel in November amid calls from the Left.

“I ask that you support efforts at the United Nations to end the bloodshed, such as the recent resolution, vetoed by the United States, that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and full humanitarian access,” Sanders said in the letter.

The correspondence comes the same day Biden offered his toughest criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Democratic donors, saying he must “change” as dissent around the world continues to grow in response to Israel’s actions after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas.

Biden said the United States would continue to provide Israel support in its efforts to root out Hamas from Gaza but that he warned Netanyahu about waning public support for Israel’s bombing campaigns among voters.

“Bibi’s got a tough decision to make,” Biden told the group Tuesday. “This is the most conservative government in Israel’s history.”

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 18,412 people have been killed in Gaza.

More than a dozen Senate Democrats recently backed an amendment to Biden’s nearly $111 billion national security supplemental request that would place conditions on U.S. aid to Israel and other allies.

The amendment, which would apply to all countries receiving weapons as part of the supplemental bill, would require the president to report to Congress within 30 days whether countries receiving military aid through the package are “fully cooperating with U.S. efforts and U.S.-supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians.”

Sanders wrote that it would be “irresponsible” for the U.S. government to provide billions of dollars in military aid to Israel in the proposed supplemental package.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Given the munitions provided since October 7th, on top of existing stockpiles, and the $3.8 billion in military aid provided every year, amounting to 15 percent of the Israeli defense budget, we must clearly acknowledge that Israel’s indiscriminate bombing and widespread use of massive explosive ordinance in densely populated urban areas is being done with American bombs and money,” Sanders said. “The United States government has urged Israel to change its tactics, but we have done little but ask nicely while continuing to enable that campaign.”

Negotiations over the supplemental package are still ongoing. Republican senators are casting doubt that a bill including foreign aid and border reform is unlikely to pass before 2024.