Summary
- Oregon Senators split on Israel weapons sales vote.
- Jeff Merkley voted to block arms shipments.
- Ron Wyden joined Republicans to defeat blockade.
- The Gaza death toll has surpassed 60,000.
- Debate reflects growing division over Israel support.
The majority of Gaza's remaining population is now facing starvation and displacement as a result of the military campaign, which has killed 60,000 Palestinians, primarily civilians.
In September 2024, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, co-sponsored six legislation to stop the United States from selling weaponry to Israel for $20 billion.
Merkley was also part of a majority of Senate Democrats who voted on Wednesday in support of two Sanders measures introduced in the Senate to stop the supply of 20,000 assault guns and a $675 million sale of bombs to Israel.
“We have a profound moral responsibility to end this collective punishment of innocent civilians,”
Merkley said in a statement, adding that until the Israeli government makes critical international food and medical aid available to Palestinians in Gaza, the U.S. should not send any more weapons.
Since October 7, 2023, the United States has provided Israel with more than $20 billion in military aid and weapons.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli troops have now murdered over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority of whom were civilians. The UN and other international organizations generally agree with these statistics.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, about 2,000 of the deceased were younger than two years old. About 1,200 people were killed and 250 hostages were taken when Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the start of the war. According to the Israeli authorities, almost half of the hostages have been freed or rescued, and the remaining thirty are thought to be alive.
About 90% of Gaza's remaining population has been displaced by Israeli forces in the past 20 months. Gaza is a 25-mile-long territory along the Mediterranean Sea that borders Egypt and Israel. The majority of the remaining population is facing famine as Israeli soldiers prevent food and medicine from entering.
Israel's military violated a ceasefire deal that had been in effect since January with Hamas in March by bombing a sizable portion of the Gaza Strip and enforcing a total blockade on the entry of gasoline, food, medicine, and other supplies. There have been almost daily complaints of Israeli troops shooting at Palestinians who are waiting for food, despite Israel permitting some U.S. aid to be delivered at locations inside Israeli military zones since May.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is putting his self-interest above all else, turning his back on longstanding efforts towards peace, and putting Jews in the region and around the world in danger,”
Wyden said.
Merkley also criticized Netanyahu in his statement and said the U.S. is enabling more deaths in Gaza by sending weapons to Israeli Defense Forces while Netanyahu blocks life-saving food and medicine from reaching Palestinians in Gaza.
“Every moment the U.S. fails to demand a massive influx of food or to provide that massive influx of food ourselves, we are complicit in Netanyahu’s strategy of starving Palestinians. This breaks every moral code and every religious code,”
he said.
“Until every child and every mother has sufficient nutrition, America should not send a single dollar or a single bomb to Netanyahu’s government. No more bombs. More aid.”
What are the reasons behind Jeff Merkley's support for blocking arms sales?
Jeff Merkley supports blocking arms sales to Israel primarily because he views the U.S. as complicit in a strategy that is causing severe humanitarian harm to Palestinians.
In a public statement, Merkley said the U.S. should not send "a single dollar or a single bomb" to the Netanyahu government until every child and mother in Gaza has sufficient nutrition, highlighting the severe starvation and humanitarian crisis there.
He sees ongoing U.S. weapons transfers as enabling a campaign that is starving Palestinians and contributing to civilian suffering. Merkley was among 27 Senate Democrats who voted to block arms sales, reflecting growing frustration over Israel's military actions in Gaza and the associated humanitarian fallout.