Washington, DC – Ryan Costello, Policy Director with National Iranian American Council Action, issued the following statement regarding the Senate vote on whether or not to restrict certain armaments from Israel that Israel’s military has used to commit war crimes in its war on Gaza.
“The fact that at least 18 Senators took a stand against immense pressure – from the war lobby and even the lame duck President Biden – to vote to restrict armaments from Israel that have been used in war crimes is a big deal.
“Of course, there is still a lot of work to do. It is unconscionable that 79 Senators chose to ignore U.S. law, and to ignore Israel’s outrageous and inhumane mass violations of human rights in the prosecution of its war, to give Israel a blank check to commit more atrocities. Moreover, so long as the U.S. follows Netanyahu’s destructive lead, the more likely that the U.S. gets pulled in to a full-blown regional war with Iran. We have already had at least two near misses with Iran in recent months, and a third is certain if the course is not changed.
“But there would have been no vote – and no dissent in the Senate – without the continued activism of a large pro-peace coalition demanding an end to the war in Gaza and in Lebanon and opposing its expansion to Iran. This activism must build on the progress made today.
“It should be clear that Joe Biden has led American foreign policy, and his own political party, to ruin by handing the keys to Netanyahu and his government to drive it off a cliff. We regret that he has not seen reason in recent days, and instead reportedly chose to spend some of his remaining time in office whipping against Senators voicing their conscience on this awful war that has wrought so much destruction.
“Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) deserve immense credit for bringing these resolutions to the floor for a vote so that a debate could be had amid the immense destruction in Gaza, which has been estimated to have killed 44,000 – most of whom are women and children – but could well be in the hundreds of thousands. A significant number of Democrats voiced the American people’s overwhelming demand for peace today. President-elect Trump, despite many of his remarks and past positions, should take note of Biden’s errors and deference to Netanyahu and chart a new course. Only with leverage can he succeed in following through on commitments to secure peace.”
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