Progressive House members try to halt Israel bomb deliveries

Last week three progressive House members made a legislative effort to block the delivery of US-made bombs to Israel.

At Jewish Currents Alex Kane reported that Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Mark Pocan (D-WI), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) submitted an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require the Biden administration prohibit the export of Joint Direct Attack Munitions and Small Diameter Bombs to Israel for a year. Israel used the same bombs, which are manufactured by the Chicago-based Boeing Company, to attack Gaza this spring.

Kane points out that the amendment has very little chance of actually making it into the NDAA, as it would have to clear the House Rules Committee first.

Palestine activists praised the move on Twitter.

“The amendment from AOC, Rashida Tlaib, and Mark Pocan would block the transfer of the same kind of Boeing bomb that the NYT found the Israeli government used to kill 44 Palestinians in one night in al-Rimal,” tweeted JVP Action Senior Government Affairs Manager Beth Miller. “Every member should be trying to stop these bombs.”

Miller’s tweet was also shared by Tlaib.

“Thank you AOC, Rashida Tlaib and Mark Pocan for leading,” tweeted Jim Zogby. “Sending these weapons makes us complicit in the killing of innocents. At some point we need to say no to Israel. Not on our watch! Not on our dime! Palestinian lives do matter.”

Groups like US Campaign for Palestinian Rights have also promoted the measure. “It is unspeakable that the U.S. plans to further enable Israel’s massacres and dishonor the dead. Raise your voice against U.S. complicity and become a people’s cosponsor of this amendment to stop the weapons’ flow to Israel,” reads a petition circulated by the group. “End Israeli impunity and insist on US accountability: we demand Congress stops the flow of U.S. weapons to Israel’s massacres of families in #Palestine and instead invests in life-giving policies.”

Israel’s May attack on Gaza killed more than 256 Palestinians, 67 of them children. Amid the carnage the Biden administration approved a $735 million weapons sale to the country. Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Pocan also attempted to block that move.

“For decades, the U.S. has sold billions of dollars in weaponry to Israel without ever requiring them to respect basic Palestinian rights. In so doing, we have directly contributed to the death, displacement and disenfranchisement of millions,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in a statement at the time. “At a time when so many, including President Biden, support a ceasefire, we should not be sending ‘direct attack’ weaponry to Prime Minister Netanyahu to prolong this violence.”

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