Sanders Announces JRDs Against Weapons Sales to Israel | Palestine Policy Roundup 09.20.2024

Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.

👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT

Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Dehumanization. Scapegoating. Erasure. Hate. In a hearing to address anti-Palestinian bigotry, Islamophobia, and Anti-Semitism, many of my colleagues showed us who they are. Republicans couldn't bring themselves to address Hanaan Shahin or acknowledge the loss of her 6-year-old son, Wadee Alfayumi. Enough is enough. We must reject dehumanizing rhetoric and pass The Wadee Resolution under suspension and unanimous consent.”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman in response to Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon: “Protecting civilians and de-escalating must be a priority. Israel must be held to account for their pervasive violations of international humanitarian law, and we need immediate answers as to whether any US assistance or aid went into the development of this lethal technology.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “The Gaza Ministry of Health released a 649-page document with the name of every identified Palestinian killed in Gaza. The first 14 pages alone are babies under the age of one. This is not self-defense. This is genocide.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Much of the carnage in Gaza has been carried out with US-provided military equipment. That's why I will introduce a resolution to block this $20 billion arms sale to Israel. We must end our complicity in the immoral & illegal war against Palestinians.”

DC DEVELOPMENTS

🏫 IMEU POLICY PROJECT LAUNCHES POLICY PAPER ON REPRESSION OF PRO-PEACE SPEECH ON CAMPUSES

The IMEU Policy Project launched our latest policy paper, entitled “American Higher Education Law and the Repression of Pro-Peace Speech on Palestine,” authored by Tariq Habash, Biden administration resignee and former senior official at the Department of Education, at a Capitol Hill briefing yesterday with the author, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and Dr. Cherie Ginwalla, a Co-Founder of the Institute for the Understanding of Anti-Palestinian Racism.

Habash’s policy paper lays out the history of pro-peace student organizing and activism for Palestinian rights on campuses, details how actions of the Biden administration and Congressional Republicans alike have served to undermine civil rights protections for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, and Jewish students, and provides a roadmap for Congress and education policymakers to protect the civil rights of Palestinians and maintain freedom of speech on campus.

This policy paper comes at a crucial time: as students return to campus, university administrations have continued to suppress freedom of speech and introduced restrictive rules aimed at stifling protests like those that took place in the spring. This paper also comes after the latest iteration of anti-Palestinian racism in Congress was on full display during Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes. Sen. John Kennedy and other GOP colleagues engaged in blatantly racist anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric directed against the Arab American Institute Executive Director Maya Berry.

📺 WATCH: Watch the IMEU Policy Project’s briefing featuring policy paper author Tariq Habash

📖 READ: Check out the policy paper here

❎ HOUSE PASSES BILL MANDATING FALSE LABELING OF GOODS MADE IN ILLEGAL ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS 

This week the House of Representatives approved a bill which would codify a Trump-era Customs and Border Protection rule to falsely label goods made in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank as being made in Israel.

False country of origin labeling deprives Americans consumers of the ability to make informed choices about whether or not they wish to purchase goods made in illegal Israeli settlements. Purchasing goods produced in Israeli settlements sustains them, and many Americans do not want their purchases to entrench Israel’s illegal theft of Palestinian land. 

In addition, by falsely claiming that Israeli settlements are in Israel, Congress, by enacting this bill, would be complicit in the Netanyahu government’s drive to illegally annex Palestinian land in the West Bank. By transferring some responsibility for administering the Palestinian West Bank from military to civilian authorities, some legal experts have argued that Israel already has taken steps to de facto annex the West Bank. 

📖 LEARN MORE: Learn more about this bill and how it would cover up Israel’s theft of Palestinian land in the IMEU Policy Project’s latest policy memo.

❌ SEN. BERNIE SANDERS ANNOUNCES INTENTION TO FILE JRDS AGAINST ISRAEL WEAPONS SALES

Senator Bernie Sanders announced his intention to file Joint Resolutions of Disapproval against the Biden administration’s recently announced series of arms sales to Israel. Sanders specifically noted that he will introduce JRDs to block the provision of JDAMs, 120mm tank rounds, 120mm high explosive mortar rounds, Medium Tactical Vehicles, and new F-15 fighter jets and parts for older jets.

These weapons have been used by Israel to further its campaign of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and US-provided weapons have been used in many potential war crimes committed by Israel. The US must join nations such as Germany, which reportedly halted new exports of weapons to Israel following legal challenges, along with other nations, and end its complicity in these war crimes. Congress must stop these weapons sales and uphold US law and policies on weapons transfers by ending all weapons to Israel. 

💡 POLICY ASK: The IMEU Policy Project strongly encourages Senators to become original cosponsors of Sen. Sanders’ joint resolutions of disapproval and strongly encourages Representatives to introduce companion JRDs in the House.

📖 LEARN MORE: Read the IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on the need for these JRDs.

💰 REPS. CARSON, JAYAPAL, AND SCHAKOWSKY INTRODUCE BILL TO RESTORE UNRWA FUNDING

Reps. André Carson, Pramila Jayapal, and Jan Schakowsky introduced the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2024, a bill which would end the pause on US funding for UNRWA. 65 Representatives are also cosponsoring the bill. The US Is now the only country to not restore its funding of UNRWA after suspending it earlier this year. The European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, and Sweden have all restored funding following suspensions this year. The US has historically been the largest donor to UNRWA - it contributed nearly $344 million to the organization in 2022, making up nearly 30% of UNRWA’s donation pledges that year. As Palestinians in Gaza continue to face starvation and dire health crises such as the spread of polio, the need to restore UNRWA’s capacity to respond remains urgent.

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, said: “Gaza isn’t starving. It’s being starved. Over two million Palestinian civilians are enduring a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, with famine and disease spreading due to blocked aid access. Meanwhile, the Biden administration and Congress continue to withhold all U.S. funding for the largest aid operation in Gaza—the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA is the backbone of aid delivery in Gaza, ensuring that millions receive desperately needed assistance. Blocking U.S. funding for UNRWA’s critical work is a cruel and unjustified decision that only deepens Gaza’s humanitarian suffering. Congress and the Administration must act swiftly to correct this wrong by supporting the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act and restoring this urgently needed aid.”

💡 POLICY ASK: The IMEU Policy Project supports this bill and encourages Members of Congress to cosponsor it.

IN THE NEWS

⏳ 42 YEARS SINCE THE SABRA AND SHATILA MASSACRE

This week marks the 42nd annual commemoration of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which Israel’s Lebanese proxy militia the Phalange killed up to 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese sheltering in the Sabra neighborhood and Shatila refugee camp. This massacre was a part of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon launched in 1982, which was intended to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO left Beirut, where Sabra and Shatila are located, after an Israeli siege of the city and after receiving written US assurances that Palestinian civilians left in Lebanon would be safe.

On September 16, the Israeli army sent about 150 Phalangist fighters into Sabra and Shatila. The Israeli army surrounded Sabra and Shatila and did nothing to stop the Phalangists from murdering civilians, and even facilitated the killings by firing flares to illuminate the night and allowing more fighters into the areas on the second day of the massacre. The Israeli Kahan Commission found then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon personally responsible for this massacre, but he did not face accountability for this crime and was eventually elected prime minister of Israel.

As thousands of explosive attacks rocked Lebanon this week, Israel struck a suburb of Beirut on Friday, killing at least 9 people. Earlier this week Benjamin Netanyahu also announced that Israel’s war aims for the assault on Gaza have expanded to include the return of Israelis to their homes in the north, where Israel has traded strikes with Hezbollah. These actions threaten to escalate into a regional conflict with Lebanon. As the Sabra and Shatila massacre demonstrates, such a conflict would pose a fatal risk to the millions of stateless Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and other nations, as well as Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

📖 LEARN MORE: Check out this fact sheet on the Sabra and Shatila massacre published by our sister organization, the IMEU.

☑️ MUSLIM VOTERS IN SWING STATES SAY GAZA IS A TOP PRIORITY

A survey conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding found that 61% of Muslim voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania named US support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza as a top priority on which they are judging presidential candidates. This is nearly 40% more than the next highest priority named by voters in the poll. 

Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia are all important swing states with significant Muslim populations. While this poll was conducted when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic nominee for president, its findings remain important for the Harris campaign. Vice President Kamala Harris must heed the calls from American voters and commit to changing course on Gaza and ending US complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians there to win back needed votes in key swing states.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS

🍎 15 AID ORGANIZATIONS: 83% OF FOOD AID BLOCKED FROM GAZA BY ISRAEL’S SIEGE

The Norwegian Refugee Council and 14 other humanitarian organizations revealed that 83% of required food aid does not make it into Gaza, and that Palestinians in Gaza are now having just one meal every other day. Only an average of 69 aid trucks made it into Gaza every day during the month of August, a dramatic decrease from 500 trucks a day this time last year. More than 1 million Palestinians in southern and central Gaza did not receive food rations in August as Israeli forces intensified their assaults there. The report also revealed that while only 25,000 tents have entered Gaza since May, 1.87 million people are in need of shelter.

The report details how Israel is obstructing this aid by denying safety to Palestinians and aid workers, tightening its blockade into a siege, using restrictive and arbitrary control of imports to delay and deny the movement of aid into and around Gaza, and more. The groups call on governments to secure an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, implement an arms embargo and end all weapons transfers to Israel, and demand compliance with the International Court of Justice’s findings and recommendations in the Gaza genocide and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

This report is yet more evidence of Israel’s obstruction of aid, and may be another piece of evidence that Israel is violating Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act if any of the aid being obstructed has been sent by the US. Members of Congress must exercise their oversight authority over weapons transfers to Israel and compel the Biden administration to end all weapons to Israel in order to comply with laws and policies governing weapons transfers.

Image: AFGE, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons