If Biden Doesn't Get Tough With Netanyahu For Real, He'll Be Handing The White House Over To Trump

"Ceasefire" by Nancy Ohanian

We’ve mostly concentrated on what a threat to American domestic affairs a Trump victory would be. In other countries, people look at the chaos looming internationally if Trump winds up in the White House again. For example, this week, French European commissioner Thierry Breton said that in 2020 Trump told the European Commission that the US would “never come help” if Europe was attacked and that NATO was “dead.” On Sunday, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of Britain’s MI6, told Sky News that the return of Trump to the White House could pose a “political threat” to Britain.

And, I’m afraid to say, Trump isn’t the only threat to American foreign affairs. The bipartisan US military industrial complex— of which Biden is a poster child— is doing a bad enough job without Trump. Israel is the perfect example. For all the bullshit handwringing from the administration, Israel has had free rein— and American weapons— to kill tens of thousands of innocent Gazans in the overreaction to Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel in October.

I grew up in the same neighborhood of Brooklyn at the same time with Bernie and Chuck Schumer; we all went to the same schools. Schumer will always been an Israel-first kind of guy, unlike Bernie (and myself), who will always put the U.S. first. Jerrad Christian was born many years later— he’s something like half our ages— and in the Appalachian part of eastern Ohio. He didn’t grow up even remotely the way Schumer, Bernie and I did. But yesterday he told me that Bernie’s “move to scrutinize U.S. military aid to Israel isn't just policy oversight; it's a moral imperative. Protecting the lives of the innocent demands that our global engagements reflect our commitment to human rights and ethical actions. Reevaluating aid based on human rights compliance isn't about diminishing alliances, it is about affirming that our support is consistent with our own standards of justice and humanity. We cannot be complicit in the killing of families and children in their homes and must demand actions to prevent them.”

Yesterday, Punchbowl writer Andrew Desiderio reported that Bernie is about two force a vote on American aid to Israel. This isn’t something most Democrats want to see happen. American voters overwhelmingly face a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza. No Republicans and just a few dozen congressional Democrats feel the same way. Only 4 senators— Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Peter Welch (D-VT)— have called for a ceasefire and I wonder how much more support Bernie is going to get tonight beyond them. Desiderio called it “a first-of-its-kind vote... [taking] aim at Israel’s military operations in Gaza and President Joe Biden’s handling of the war.”

Senators will vote on a resolution directing the State Department to issue a report on whether Israel is using U.S.-provided weapons in a way that violates international human rights standards. The Foreign Assistance Act allows lawmakers to force such votes, but this particular provision has never been invoked before.

The effort, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), reflects progressives’ deepening frustrations with the Biden administration’s posture on the war. And it’s sure to reignite tensions within the Democratic Party over U.S. support for Israel.

“The concern that I have is not that Israel does not have the right to defend itself against Hamas— they do have that right,” Sanders told us in an interview on Monday. “The concern that I have is that we are now going to war against the Palestinian people in general.”

We spoke with Sanders about the resolution, the pushback he’s getting from Democrats and how Israel’s war in Gaza may be hurting Biden’s standing with progressives and young voters in an already difficult election year.

The details: The Senate will vote on whether to discharge the resolution from the Foreign Relations Committee. It will fail— by a lot. The White House opposes it, as will all Republicans and most Democrats.

But Sanders is channeling progressives’ anger about how Israel has conducted its military campaign against Hamas since the Oct. 7 terror attacks that left more than 1,200 Israelis, Americans and other victims dead. Hamas is still holding more than 130 hostages— including Americans— although the group claimed two hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israeli officials disputed this report.

More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli operations in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis has also unfolded.

"Negotiating Table" by Nancy Ohanian

“It is totally appropriate for the U.S. Senate to ask what role our weapons and military equipment has played in that reality,” Sanders told us.

The timing: Sanders said it’s “only appropriate for the Senate to be monitoring closely how U.S. military assistance is being used,” calling it ”a very good precedent.”

In a statement, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the Biden administration doesn’t believe the resolution is “the right vehicle to address these issues.”

Kirby also said now isn’t the “right time,” noting that Israel may soon be shifting their Gaza operations to a “lower intensity.” And it comes as senators, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, are set to host families of the hostages held by Hamas to mark 100 days since they were first kidnapped.

“If the fact that hundreds of thousands of children are facing imminent starvation is not the right time to raise this issue, then I don’t know when the right time is,” Sanders said in response to Kirby. “Despite what the president has said… [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu continues to go along his merry way.”

The politics: There’s no question in Sanders’ mind that Biden has suffered politically with his base. At nearly every recent public event, Biden has been confronted by protesters demanding a ceasefire and criticizing Israel’s military operations.

Sanders said progressives are concerned about the United States’ “willingness to give more money to Netanyahu’s right-wing government to continue this terrible military campaign.”

As for his own reelection, Sanders told us he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll seek a fourth Senate term.

Zach Shrewsbury is the progressive Democrat running for the West Virginia Senate seat being abandoned by Joe Manchin. I’m pretty sure I know how he would be voting on Bernie’s resolution tonight. “This should have been acknowledged months ago,” he told me this morning. “Israel has used US armaments to strike civilian targets and has forced a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Hamas isn’t being destroyed by Israel… Palestinians are. We need to restrict our military aid to Israel to show who actually has the power, giving it and asking nicely does not work. We as a nation cannot allow a genocide to occur.”

If your Member of Congress isn't on this list, you should have a talk with them and let them know what you think. These are the only House Members who want to stop-- or are brave enough to say publicly that they want to stop-- Israel's mayhem in Gaza. Remember, AIPAC is threatening to spend tens of millions of dollars against any members who don't back Israel's murderous extremism.

UPDATE: The Vote

Only 9 Democratic senators— plus one lunatic fringe sociopath from Kentucky— joined Bernie in trying to hold the military industrial complex even vaguely accountable for the genocide in Gaza. Bernie: “We will be voting on a very simple question: do you support asking the State Department whether human rights violations may have occurred using US equipment or assistance in this war? I hope it is not controversial to ask how US weapons are being used.”

• Laphonza Butler (D-CA)

• Martin Heinrich (D-NM)

• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

• Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM)

• Ed Markey (D-MA)

• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)

• Rand Paul (R-KY)

• Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

• Peter Welch (D-VT)