In March, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced two Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to stop the flow of weapons to Israel. They were defeated in April, with both Sens. King and Collins voting “No.”
King’s response when questioned about his vote was mind-boggling. It starts with, “The current crisis in the Middle East, which began with the brutal attacks on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas…” as though Oct. 7 justifies what followed. What then does the 19-plus months of horrific Israeli revenge against Gaza justify?
Before Oct. 7, Gaza was already an open-air prison, crippled by a brutal 17-year Israeli siege, and regularly bombed by Israel. Oct. 7 was the inevitable result of mounting anger and frustration with Israel’s endless cruelty, and Washington’s full support, as it turned a blind eye to Palestinian suffering.
King justified his vote by saying, “My concern was that a positive vote from the Senate would prolong the conflict and the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza by encouraging Hamas to resist the negotiations that are essential to bringing an end to this awful war and the release of the remaining hostages.”
The U.S., as Israel’s largest supplier of weapons, could have ended the war by stopping the flow of necessary weapons. Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire proposal on March 29 before the JRD votes, while Prime Minister Netanyahu made clear his intentions to continue the war. The idea that stopping weapons to Israel would prolong Palestinian suffering exemplifies the kind of nonsensical arguments U.S. supporters are forced to make in defending Israel.
King employs other misleading wordings in his response: “Drinking water has dried up.” In fact, Israel intentionally targets wells and water
treatment plants. According to Oxfam, “The deliberate restriction of access to water is not a new tactic. The Israeli government has been depriving Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza of safe and sufficient water for many years.”
King also said, “Unfortunately, the deal fell apart.” Israel never honored the ceasefire, killing 155 Palestinians between its implementation and March 18, when Israel officially broke it with 2 a.m. airstrikes which killed 400-plus Palestinians, “because it didn’t want to fully meet
the terms it had committed to two months ago,” according to Israeli defense affairs columnist Amos Harel. It struck while Hamas was engaged in ceasefire talks.
Another statement: “Israel has every right to defend itself from terrorism.” As do Palestinians. International law upholds the use of force to resist occupation and oppression. Decades of home demolition, land theft, midnight arrests of children, torture/rape of Palestinian
prisoners and ethnic cleansing by Israel are also terrorism.
King claims he is “sharply critical of Israel’s bombing campaign.” Yet he continues to vote for more unconditional military aid to Israel. Just weeks after one of Israel’s bloodiest bombardments, and days after Israeli soldiers executed 15 medical/aid workers and buried their bodies and vehicles under the sand, Sen. King (and Sen. Collins) voted against withholding weapons from Israel.
For 19 months, we’ve heard news of Israel killing men, women and children, the elderly, aid workers, doctors, medics and journalists, blowing up schools, hospitals, homes, churches and mosques, bulldozing cemeteries, targeting hungry Palestinians trying to access food from aid trucks and children dying of starvation.
Despite the gruesome news reports, the violations of human rights and international law as well as U.S. law, the accusation of “plausible” genocide and the moral outrage expressed around the world, King, along with bilateral support from Congress, has continued to unconditionally supply Israel with ever more weapons to continue the carnage. It is this unconditional U.S. support, this willingness to look the other way that encourages Israel’s increasingly brutal and egregious acts.
Does Sen. King have any red lines? Will he continue to defend Israel’s right to “self-defense” as the number of mangled and dismembered Palestinian children soars? For how long will the people of Maine allow this complete abdication of moral leadership?