Senate scuttles resolution to secure human rights report on Israel aid

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Senate voted Tuesday night against a measure that would have commissioned a report on U.S. aid to Israel and examined whether the country has violated international human rights standards in its ongoing war in Gaza.

More than 70 lawmakers, including many Democrats, voted to table the proposed resolution, introduced by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and fast-tracked to a floor vote. With the measure laid on the table, it is effectively dead in the upper chamber.

Sanders’ resolution, which ultimately failed 72-11, would have leveraged a provision in the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act allowing Congress to request information from the State Department about the human rights record of any country receiving aid from the U.S.

Under the measure, the agency would have a month to provide a report on any credible allegations of human rights violations committed by Israel in Gaza, including civilian casualties caused as the result of either military operations or “the blanket denial of basic humanitarian needs.” The resolution also asked the State Department to detail the U.S. efforts to defend human rights in Gaza and steps the government has taken to limit civilian deaths.

Sanders’ resolution further requires the State Department to certify that no Israeli security forces that have received U.S. aid as far back as 2018 have “committed any gross violation of human rights.”

According to the Foreign Assistance Act, the State Department would have had 30 days to provide the requested report to Congress — failure to do so would have frozen all U.S. assistance to Israel until lawmakers could approve a new aid package.

Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, the Israeli government has carried out a devastating bombing campaign on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, controlled by Hamas. The ensuing counteroffensive has killed nearly 20,000 and injured 50,000, many civilians. The bombardment has also displaced millions of Gazans and destroyed more than half of the region’s housing, according to the United Nations.

Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sanders argued the U.S. was tied to the staggering death and destruction in Gaza, pointing to recent reports that Washington has provided tens of thousands of bombs and artillery shells to Israeli forces since the beginning of the war.

“Whether we like it or not, the United States is complicit in the nightmare that millions of Palestinians are now experiencing,” he said. “No matter what your view on this terrible war … we cannot bury our heads in the sand.”

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley concurred, first arguing that the Oct. 7 attacks — during which Hamas killed more than 1,000 Israelis and took hundreds hostage — were “horrific” and saying he backed Israel’s right to defeat Hamas.

But, Merkley said, “we have a responsibility to ask hard questions about how war is conducted.”

Innocent Palestinians living in Gaza should not be caught up in Israel’s effort to root out Hamas, Merkley said, and the U.S. should take better steps to understand its own role in Jerusalem’s counteroffensive.

“It would be useful to have our own government analyze this,” he said, “to understand why we are supplying various weapons that our government has said Israel should quit using.”

Meanwhile, both Democrats and Republicans spoke out against the proposed resolution.

Maryland Senator Ben Cardin framed the measure as unnecessarily hobbling an ally as it tries to conduct a war against a foreign aggressor, pointing to the provision freezing aid to Israel if the State Department can’t provide a human rights report in 30 days.

“This resolution is much more than just requesting information,” Cardin said. “Its passage would be a gift to Hamas, a gift to Iran and it would show a division between Israel and the United States. It’s an indictment against Israel.”

Cardin added the Biden administration has been pushing the Israeli government to undertake “a more targeted campaign” against Hamas. “Passing this resolution does not do that,” he said.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham offered his own rebuke of the proposed resolution during floor remarks earlier Tuesday, calling the Oct. 7 attacks “Pearl Harbor on steroids.”

Graham also argued Hamas was pursuing a strategy “to make sure civilians are killed in large numbers” by Israeli forces, alluding to largely unproven claims by Israel that Hamas has militarized civilian targets such as schools and hospitals.

“Anything short of destroying Hamas militarily would be a mistake for the ages,” Graham said. “If you see Israel as the bad guy, you’re missing a lot. There’s no moral equivalency at play.”

Sanders, however, pushed back on opposition to the proposed resolution, arguing that ensuring countries receiving U.S. foreign aid were acting in line with internationally recognized human rights principles is “not a radical idea.”

“This is a simple request for information,” the independent from Vermont said. “It does not alter aid to Israel in any way. It simply requests a report on how U.S. aid is being used.”

As the war in Gaza enters its fourth month, the United Nations has warned that Gazan civilians, many of whom do not have consistent access to food, water or other necessities, face heightened risks of famine and disease.

The White House, which was initially staunchly supportive of the war against Hamas, has said that Israel should scale back its operations in Gaza amid growing concerns about civilian casualties. Israel has not signaled that such a détente is forthcoming.

Follow @BenjaminSWeiss