Sen. Sanders Introduces JRDs to Block Weapons To Israel | Palestine Policy Roundup 02.24.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Bernie Sanders, on JRDs to block weapons to Israel: “With Trump and Netanyahu openly talking about forcibly displacing millions of Palestinians from Gaza – in other words, ethnic cleansing – it would be unconscionable to provide more of the bombs and weapons Israel has used to kill so many civilians and make life unlivable in Gaza.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
🚫 SEN. BERNIE SANDERS INTRODUCES JOINT RESOLUTIONS OF DISAPPROVAL TO BLOCK WEAPONS TO ISRAEL
Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block the Trump administration’s latest weapons packages for Israel, valued at more than $8.5 billion to be financed presumably by American taxpayers. The JRDs seek to block the delivery of Small Diameter Bombs, 500-pound bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) guidance kits, Hellfire Missiles, and 155mm High Explosive artillery shells.
Evidence linking US-funded weapons generally, and these types of weapons specifically, has been found at the scenes of many apparent war crimes committed by Israel. In May 2024, the Israeli military used a US-supplied GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb in an attack on Rafah, where at the time 1.3 million Palestinians were taking shelter–many of whom were displaced by Israel’s assault on Gaza. That attack killed 45 Palestinians and injured 200 more after a fire broke out following Israel’s use of the weapon.
In July 2024, the Israeli military struck the so-called humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi, killing more than 90 Palestinians and injuring hundreds more despite telling Palestinians to go to this zone to escape the carnage of its assault elsewhere. The tail fin of a US-supplied JDAM kit was found at that site.
An Israeli airstrike on a health clinic in Gaza City in June 2024 killed five people, including Hani al-Jaafarawi, Gaza’s director of ambulances and emergency. Al-Jaafarawi was the 500th medical worker killed by Israel since October 2023. The rocket motor of a US-supplied Hellfire missile was recovered at the site of the airstrike.
In October 2023, the Israeli army fired 155mm artillery shells containing white phosphorus into southern Lebanon, killing at least 9 Lebanese and endangering the lives of countless more. Amnesty International reported that lot production codes indicated that the shells were made in the US and called for the incident to be investigated as a war crime.
According to the American Friends Service Committee, Israel uses US-supplied MK-82 500-pound bombs “extensively” in its attacks against Palestinians in Gaza.
Many of these weapons are set to be delivered this year, making it possible for them to be used in future Israeli genocidal violence, including Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse more than 2 million Palestinians from their homeland. While the ceasefire is holding for now, despite Israeli violations of its terms, such as failing to free Palestinian captives over the weekend, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also have attempted to sabotage it and prevent negotiations on moving to its next phase.
💡 POLICY ASK: IMEU Policy Project calls on all Senators to cosponsor these JRDs and to vote for them if they come to the floor.
📖 LEARN MORE: Read the IMEU Policy Project's latest policy memo on the need for these JRDs and how the weapons included in the latest notifications from the Trump administration have contributed to violations of US and international law. Sign up for action alerts here and share the news on Instagram and Twitter.
IN THE NEWS
❌ ISRAELI MILITARY VIOLATES LEBANON CEASEFIRE BY REFUSING TO COMPLETE WITHDRAWAL
The Israeli military is keeping its troops in 5 locations in Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire agreement there. Under the terms of the ceasefire, agreed upon in November 2024, the Israeli military was supposed to have fully withdrawn all of its forces from Lebanon on January 26.
After refusing to withdraw troops on that date, the deadline for the Israeli withdrawal was extended to February 18. This ceasefire formally ended Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and widespread bombing campaign across the country, during which the Israeli military killed nearly 4,000 Lebanese and displaced more than 1 million.
This is the latest in a string of Israeli violations of this ceasefire. The Israeli military struck Lebanon more than 300 times and intensified its destruction of property there in the first 60 days after the ceasefire went into effect. On the day that the Israeli military was originally meant to withdraw from the country, Israeli troops killed more than 20 Lebanese who were attempting to return to their homes in southern Lebanon.
⚖️ TWO PEOPLE SHOT IN MIAMI IN CRIME ALLEGEDLY MOTIVATED BY ANTI-PALESTINIAN RACISM
Two weekends ago, two people were shot in a car in Miami by Mordechai Brafman, who reportedly told police he shot them because he thought they were Palestinians.The victims, who survived after Brafman shot at their vehicle 17 times, turned out to be two Israelis visiting the US. One of the victims posted about the incident on social media and ended the post by calling for violence against Arabs.
This hate crime is a part of an alarming increase in attacks against Palestinians in the US since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Wadee Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child, was killed by his family’s landlord just days after the beginning of Israel’s genocide in October 2023. 3 Palestinian students were shot in Burlington, Vermont in November 2023 in an alleged hate crime that disabled Hisham Arwatani. In June 2024, a woman in Texas allegedly tried to drown 2 Palestinian-American children after attacking their mother with racist abuse.
In the first six months of 2024, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported a 70% increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents. This was fueled by anti-Palestinian racism spread by members of Congress and by both President Biden and President Trump. The constant dehumanization of Palestinians from the top levels of the US government, coupled with continued weapons and support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, has played a large role in emboldening violence against Palestinians and those perceived to be Palestinian.
✈️ OVER 200 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON F-35 PROGRAM NATIONS TO HALT WEAPONS TO ISRAEL
232 organizations from around the world–including prominent human rights NGOs such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam–urged the governments of F-35 program partner nations to halt all weapons to Israel in response to their repeated failures to prevent the use of the jets by Israel in violation of international law. F-35 partner program countries are: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the US and the UK.
The letter highlights the limited and temporary nature of the ceasefire agreement and notes that weapons supplied by these nations–including but not limited to F-35 jets–are still at risk of being used in further war crimes in Gaza or in the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. It also details the use of an F-35 fighter jet in an apparent war crime that targeted the so-called safe zone in Al-Mawasi in July 2024.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🚨 ISRAEL REFUSES TO RELEASE PALESTINIAN CAPTIVES, PUTTING CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT IN JEOPARDY
Israel refused to uphold its end of the ceasefire agreement by releasing more than 600 Palestinian captives who were slated to be exchanged for the 6 Israeli captives released by Hamas on Saturday. Most of the Palestinian captives set to be released were Palestinians abducted from Gaza and held without charge in what the Israeli NGO B’Tselem has described as a network of torture camps.
Israel’s refusal to release Palestinian captives is its latest violation of the ceasefire agreement. As phase one of the agreement is set to end this weekend, Israel has delayed its participation in negotiations for the next phase of the ceasefire, talks which were supposed to have begun more than two weeks ago. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu has vowed to resume Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Israel’s commitment to achieving a phase two of the agreement is in serious doubt.
3 Palestinian police officers who were reportedly facilitating the entry of aid trucks into Gaza were killed by an Israeli strike in southern Gaza on February 16th. This latest strike adds to the more than 110 Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect on January 19th, according to a report from early February.
Palestinian officials have also reported that Israel was obstructing critical aid, such as heavy machinery, from entering Gaza and was preventing wounded Palestinians from leaving Gaza to receive medical treatment in Egypt.
Additionally, an investigation published by Al Jazeera revealed that the Israeli military is destroying homes in Rafah and building fortifications along the Philadelphi corridor. It also notes that Israeli soldiers are shooting at Palestinians who are attempting to return to their homes in neighborhoods of Rafah that are close to the border with Egypt.
As Israel threatens the ceasefire, concerns over the implementation of President Donald Trump’s ethnic cleansing proposal continue to grow. Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told journalists that preparations to implement the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza had begun and that it could start within weeks. He also said that these preparations are happening in coordination with the Trump administration, and that the Israeli military would resume its genocide in Gaza.
Last Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement that he is committed to a US takeover of Gaza in line with President Trump’s proposal. Additionally, leaflets reportedly distributed by Israel in Gaza last week threatened Palestinians with the implementation of President Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan.
🏚️ ISRAELI MILITARY SENDS TANKS TO WEST BANK AS ETHNIC CLEANSING THREAT GROWS
Over the weekend, the Israeli military deployed tanks to the illegally occupied West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered Israeli troops to remain in the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps to prevent the return of more than 40,000 forcibly displaced Palestinians.
Katz also announced that the Israeli military would expand its invasion of the West Bank. These dangerous escalations are raising concerns that the Israeli military is using its invasion as a means to advance the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank and facilitate Israel’s illegal annexation of the occupied territory. At the beginning of the invasion, Israel Katz revealed that the military was using similar genocidal tactics as those used in Gaza, implicitly promising to destroy infrastructure and forcibly transfer Palestinians.
This invasion, which entered its second month last week, is Israel’s longest-running invasion of the West Bank in more than 20 years and has resulted in the largest forced displacement of Palestinians since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967.
The Israeli military is destroying residential buildings as it continues its invasion. Last Tuesday, the Israeli military demolished more than a dozen apartment buildings in Tulkarem, displacing an unknown number of Palestinian families. Videos captured on Palestinian television also reportedly showed the Israeli military using bulldozers to destroy homes in the Tulkarem refugee camp.
Even when a home is not destroyed outright, the Israeli military has established a pattern of vandalizing homes it occupies. Palestinians who have been able to return to their homes have reported vandalism by Israeli soldiers after they used Palestinian homes as dormitories. Israeli soldiers also exposed their extensive participation in this practice in Gaza as well.
Benjamin Netanyahu himself has engaged in this vandalism; he and Israeli troops were photographed holding a meeting in the home of a presumably displaced Palestinian family in Tulkarem on Friday. Photographs also show that Israeli soldiers presumably defaced the home by putting up Israeli flags and posters around the room.
As the Israeli military was continuing its campaign to displace Palestinians from the West Bank, the Israeli NGO Peace Now revealed last week that Israel has approved the construction of nearly 1,000 housing units in the illegal Efrat settlement. As the Israeli military destroys critical infrastructure and housing in Jenin and Tulkarem, Israel is also expanding its settlements, which are illegal under international law.
Photo: Anas-Mohammed, Editorial Use Only (Stock Photo ID: 2425794051), via Shutterstock.