Updated: 1:25 p.m. on
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Marc Porcan have introduced a resolution to block the sale of $735 million of precision-guided weapons to Israel amid continued fighting against the Islamist militant group Hamas.
And Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont on Thursday introduced a similar resolution in the Senate.
“For decades, the U.S. has sold billions of dollars in weaponry to Israel without ever requiring them to respect basic Palestinian rights,” said Ms. Ocasio-Cortez of New York in a statement. “In so doing, we have directly contributed to the death, displacement and disenfranchisement of millions. At a time when so many, including President Biden, support a ceasefire, we should not be sending ‘direct attack’ weaponry to [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu to prolong this violence.”