Progressive Jewish groups back Senate resolutions against arms sales to Israel

(JTA) — A number of progressive Jewish groups are backing an effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders to block arms sales to Israel.

The effort, a collection of several resolutions, is unlikely to pass in the closely divided Senate but could split Democratic lawmakers. 

The push is driving a wedge among Jewish organizations in the lead-up to Wednesday’s vote: A group of centrist and right-wing pro-Israel groups oppose the bills. But large liberal Jewish organizations have offered support, signaling those groups’ growing criticism of how Israel is operating in Gaza — as well as a willingness to penalize Israel for that conduct. 

In particular, the liberal Israel lobby J Street has encouraged senators to vote for the resolutions. The push reflects a shift at the group, a home base for progressive Zionists. Within the past year, J Street has gone from supporting Israel’s war against Hamas to advocating that the United States stop supplying it with weapons needed to wage it. 

“J Street is asking Senators to send a message of disapproval of the Netanyahu government’s conduct of the war in Gaza and the disrespect it has shown to the Biden Administration and international law,” the group said in a statement, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

J Street added that the vote, which it called “symbolic,” would indicate disapproval “of the US administration’s failure to enforce American laws and use leverage to rein in Netanyahu’s policies and actions.” J Street’s support for the measures was first reported by Jewish Insider.

The pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, to J Street’s right, lambasted that position as “not pro-Israel,” as did conservative groups. The Republican Jewish Coalition called J Street “a total disgrace” that was “attempting to kneecap Israel as it fights an existential war.”

The Jewish Federations of North America urged lawmakers to vote against the measures to “help ensure that Israel has the means to defend its citizens against Iran and its terror proxies.”

J Street’s statement put it at odds with a usual ally, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which called cuts to military aid “irresponsible” as Israel fights a multi-front war and added, “In moments like these, we must ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.”

Sanders, who is Jewish, introduced the resolutions in September. He supported Israel’s war against Hamas after the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, but has called for a halt to military aid for Israel for nearly a year. In January, he said, “The U.S. should not provide another nickel to the Netanyahu government unless there is a fundamental change in military policy and their response to the humanitarian crisis.” He has repeated variations on that demand in the months since. 

In a Tuesday press briefing, Sanders argued that the weapons sales were illegal according to U.S. law because, he said, Israel was in violation of international humanitarian law due to its conduct in Gaza. He said that should preclude the arms sales, which are worth about $20 billion and include several categories of offensive weapons and aircraft. 

“It is time to tell the Netanyahu government that they cannot use U.S. taxpayer dollars and American weapons in violation of U.S. and international law,” Sanders said. In a statement, he said Israel has “waged all-out war against the Palestinian people.”

If the legislation, called joint resolutions of disapproval, passes both the Senate and the House, it would block weapons sales to Israel. But the resolutions are not expected to pass, as nearly all Republican senators are expected to oppose them.

“For the past year-plus, Democrats have struggled to support our ally Israel, and it’s literally fractured the Democrat Party,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the incoming Republican majority leader. “For example, we are expecting tomorrow Sen. Sanders to offer a resolution denying lethal aid to Israel. Refusal to have our ally’s back, and the hesitation to call out antisemitism in our own country, has consequences. It enables bad behavior and bad actors around the world, and it encourages others to abandon Israel in their time of need.”

In October, the United States threatened to cut military assistance if Israel did not meet certain benchmarks in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. But the government took no action when the deadline passed last week, saying Israel had made progress in delivering more aid despite not achieving all of the benchmarks.

J Street, in explaining its support for this week’s resolutions, said the resolutions would “in no way impact Israel’s ability to defend its citizens” and noted that they do not affect defensive systems such as Iron Dome, the Israeli missile defense system.

The resolutions have drawn support from other liberal Jewish groups that, like J Street, have endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the rabbinic human rights group T’ruah and Americans for Peace Now. 

J Street has called on the Biden administration, now in a lame duck period, to take other actions against the Israeli far right, including placing sanctions on Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, an action supported by nearly 90 Democrats in Congress. The Biden administration has placed sanctions on several extremist Israeli settlers and settler organizations but has so far not sanctioned Ben-Gvir or Smotrich.