In August, the Biden Administration approved a series of arms sales to Israel totaling more than $20 billion. Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) led by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT), Peter Welch (VT), Jeff Merkley (OR), and Brian Schatz (HI) would block the sale of many of these offensive weapons, including Joint Direct Attack Munitions and 120mm artillery shells, which have been used in strikes that have killed thousands of civilians, including aid workers and journalists, in Gaza over the last year.
U.S. law prohibits the provision of security assistance to foreign military units that have committed gross violations of human rights. According to credible reports, including from human rights organizations and the United Nations, Israeli forces have engaged in a pattern of unlawful attacks in Gaza. Independent investigations have also found that U.S. weapons have been used in several unlawful attacks that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children.
Details on the JRDs to block specific weapons sales to Israel
These JRDs oppose multiple offensive arms sales to Israel that have been used in violation of U.S. law and policy. They include:
- S.Res.111 - focusing on 120mm Tank Rounds - $774.1 million - led by Sens. Sanders, Welch, Merkley, and Schatz
- S.Res.112 - focusing on Medium Tactical Vehicles - $583.1 million - led by Sens. Sanders, Welch
- S.Res.113 - focusing on 120mm High Explosive Mortar Rounds - $61.1 million - led by Sens. Sanders, Welch, and Merkley
- S.Res.114 - focusing on F-15IA Fighter Aircraft and Upgrades - $18.82 billion - led by Sens. Sanders
- S.Res.115 - focusing on Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) - $262 million - led by Sens. Sanders, Welch, and Merkley
- S.Res.116 - focusing on Anti-Jam and Global Positioning System (GPS) Receivers - led by Sens. Sanders, Welch, and Merkley
The JRD Process Explained
In 1974, Congress passed legislation requiring the President to provide notifications of major arms sales and created a process to block an arms sale by passing expedited resolutions, enabling a fast-tracked floor debate and vote.
Under the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), Congress generally has 30 days to pass a JRD to block a weapons transfer through both chambers after receiving notification of a sale from the State Department. However, for Israel and NATO allies, this window is shortened to 15 days. Only Senate JRDs can move through a fast-tracked, expedited process and go straight to the floor. House JRDs must go through the normal legislative process, including a committee markup.
Sens. Sanders, Welch, Merkley, and Schatz have invoked expedited procedures under the AECA that will force a vote to block several major offensive weapon sales to Israel worth roughly $20 billion. This will be the first major vote in Congress to halt weapons sales to Israel.
Topline Messages
- Documented Harm to Civilians: Independent human rights and conflict monitors have thoroughly documented the Israeli military’s use of these weapons from the United States in attacks that have killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza. President Biden has described Israeli government attacks as “indiscriminate,” which is a violation of the laws of war. Humanitarian groups have stressed that Israeli forces continue to block the delivery of humanitarian aid as hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are on the precipice of starvation and suffering from the spread of deadly diseases, including polio.
- Contrary to U.S. Law and Policy: U.S. law and the Biden administration’s own arms transfer policy prohibit arms transfers to any country that engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights and restricts the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance. According to the Biden administration’s own report, continued arms transfers to the Israeli government do not comply with these standards.
- Leverage for a Ceasefire: There is no military solution to this crisis in Israel-Palestine and across the Middle East. As Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin said, “[S]even hostages have come out through military operation. Over 100 have come out through a negotiated settlement. It’s pretty clear that what we need to do.” By stopping these arms sales, Congress would send a clear message that only diplomacy – not more weapons – is the way to bring hostages home and achieve a peaceful settlement to the violence in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and across the region.
Counterpoints and Rebuttals
Without these U.S. weapons, Israel can’t defend against attacks from Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran.
These JRDs do not block defensive systems like the Iron Dome and David’s Sling, which are specifically designed to intercept rockets and protect civilians from incoming attacks. Instead, these JRDs only impact offensive weapons, such as 120mm artillery shells and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), that have been linked to gross violations of human rights in Gaza. The senators deliberately chose not to block the sale of air-to-air missiles that serve a defensive purpose.
There is no military solution to the conflict in Gaza, only a diplomatic one that addresses the root causes of violence. Instead of sending more offensive weapons to Israel, Congress, and the administration should leverage this military aid with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get him to finally accept a ceasefire deal in Gaza and Lebanon. Reaching an immediate ceasefire is a far more effective strategy to support both Palestinian human rights and Israel’s long-term national security.
Israel has been improving humanitarian access, so now isn’t the time to block arms sales.
There is no evidence that aid access in Gaza is improving. We are seeing the lowest levels of aid deliveries in northern Gaza since the start of the war, with famine and disease on the rise. A record-low average of 69 aid trucks per day entered Gaza in August 2024, compared to 500 per day last year. Israel is currently impeding nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza and still requires onerous vetting and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments, further delaying assistance.
Moreover, on October 28, Israel’s Knesset voted to terminate UNRWA’s ability to operate in occupied Palestine within 90 days. This move will only further exacerbate an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. In October, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israel expressing deep concern over this decision and aid access more broadly, stating that “enacting such restrictions would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response at this critical moment and deny vital educational and social services to tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
We should leave it to President Biden to negotiate a ceasefire. If he wants to suspend arms sales, that’s up to him.
Congress isn’t a passive bystander. It’s a coequal branch of government and shares responsibility for what’s happening in Gaza. This is especially true when it involves U.S. weapons that senators and representatives have voted repeatedly to send to Israel. Leaving this issue entirely to President Biden and his administration isn’t enough and shirks key oversight responsibilities entrusted to members of Congress. The administration has had over a year to achieve a ceasefire and compel the Israeli government to do more to protect civilians and increase humanitarian aid access. President Biden’s Gaza policy has failed and Congress must do more to end the violence, achieve a comprehensive ceasefire, the return of the hostages, and end U.S. complicity in gross violations of human rights in Gaza, as required by U.S. law and policy.
I’m focused on the humanitarian situation and getting a ceasefire – I don’t want to wade into the arms debate.
These issues are deeply interconnected. Getting aid into Gaza will require real leverage, and that means threatening to withhold weapons that fuel the conflict. Right now, the Biden Administration’s occasional threats to uphold key U.S. laws and policies over humanitarian access issues—like the Foreign Assistance Act and National Security Memorandum 20—aren’t viewed as credible by Israel or by regional actors, because to date there have been no real consequences attached. This has sent a message of impunity to the government of Israel as it has carried out a military campaign that President Biden himself has labeled “indiscriminate,” and which is creating one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian catastrophes.
Additionally, we’ve also seen many examples where Congress has successfully leveraged military support to key allies, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in ways that bolstered diplomacy, improved human rights conditions, and increased aid access. For example, the 2018 Senate passage of the Yemen War Powers Resolution led to former President Trump halting in-flight refueling for Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombing Yemen. That move helped compel the Saudi government and the Houthis to reach a ceasefire in Hodeida port, which kept humanitarian aid flowing to millions of Yemenis and saved potentially hundreds of thousands of lives.
There’s no precedent for cutting off arms sales to an ally in wartime.
We are not advocating for cutting off an ally during wartime. These JRDs have been narrowly crafted to target specific weapons sales that human rights monitors have documented to conduct gross violations of human rights in Gaza, such as JDAMs and 120mm artillery shells. In just one year, the U.S. has spent at least $22.76 billion on military aid to Israel through September 30th. These figures only constitute security assistance that has been sold and has been delivered to Israel and do not include new multi-billion dollar arms agreements signed that would provide military hardware to Israel over the next several years.
In September, Sen. Kaine issued a press release backing the JRD effort, stating: “Since February, I have called on the Biden Administration to support Israel through the provision of defensive weapons, such as those used to defeat the Iranian drone and missile attacks in April. But I have also urged a pause in transfer of any offensive weapons because of the serious harm they will likely cause to Palestinian civilians in Gaza and in the West Bank. I also believe that the U.S. transferring more offensive weapons into the region right now will be an accelerant to ongoing hostilities, jeopardizing the prospects for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza”