[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S67-S68]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Israel

  Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I would like to say a few words on the 
resolution I have introduced under section 502B of the Foreign 
Assistance Act, which I intend to bring to the floor next week. This 
resolution is privileged. We will have a floor debate on it, and there 
will be a vote.
  There is some confusion, I think, regarding what this resolution 
does, and I want to say a few words about that.
  Very sensibly, the Foreign Assistance Act requires that when the 
United States provides security assistance or arms to any country in 
the world, that assistance must be used in line with internationally 
recognized human rights. The act prohibits assistance to any government 
that engages in a consistent pattern of violation of human rights.
  That is the law of the United States of America.
  This act also provides Congress with several oversight tools to make 
sure that this law is, in fact, followed, and one of these tools is 
section 502B(c), which allows Congress to direct the State Department 
to provide a report on any country receiving U.S. security assistance 
and that government's observance or lack of observance of international 
human rights. That is what the law is about; and that is, in fact, 
exactly what this resolution does.
  In line with existing law, it directs the State Department to provide 
any credible information it may have on potential violations of 
internationally recognized human rights by Israel in its military 
campaign in Gaza.
  It focuses in particular on the denial of the right to life, a human 
right enshrined in U.S. and international law caused by indiscriminate 
or disproportionate military operations, as well as by the denial of 
basic humanitarian needs and access.
  It also asks for additional information on steps the United States 
has taken to limit civilian risk in this war; a certification that the 
Leahy laws are being fully applied; and a summary of the arms and 
munitions provided to Israel since October 7, when the war began. In 
essence, we will be voting on a very simple question. This is not a 
complicated question.
  The question is: Do you support, as a Member of the Senate, asking 
the State Department whether human rights violations may have occurred 
using U.S. equipment or assistance in this war? That is what the 
resolution does--nothing more, nothing less.
  This resolution is not prescriptive. It does not alter aid to Israel 
in any way. It does not cut one penny of aid. It simply requests that 
the State Department report on how U.S. aid is being used. The State 
Department then has 30 days to provide a report responding to the 
request.
  To my mind, this is not a controversial resolution. Every one of us 
should want to know whether our U.S. military aid is being used in 
violation of international law or not. No matter what your view on the 
war may be, it is a simple question. And I hope that we can get 
widespread support for the resolution.
  Now, let me say a word about why, in my view, this resolution is, in 
fact, necessary. It is no great secret that the United States has long 
been very supportive of Israel, providing billions of dollars a year in 
military aid, year after year after year. We have also provided a 
massive influx of arms and munitions since October 7, the day of 
Hamas's disgusting terrorist attack against Israel.
  The Israeli military has made extensive use of these U.S. weapons in 
its campaign, including the widespread use of 2,000-pound bombs, 1,000-
pound bombs, and 155-mm artillery.
  On December 1, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. has 
provided at least 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells to Israel 
since October 7, including more than 5,400 huge 2,000-pound bombs that 
can flatten entire neighborhoods. The Washington Post reported that in 
just 6 weeks after October 7, Israel dropped more than 22,000 American-
supplied bombs on Gaza. CNN reported that 40 to 45 percent of the bombs 
used in Gaza have been unguided or what is called dumb bombs.
  Let me be very clear. This aggressive military campaign has led to 
massive destruction and widespread civilian harm. There is extensive 
evidence showing that this military campaign since October 7 in Gaza 
has been, far and away, the most intensive bombing campaign of the 21st 
century.
  Independent human rights monitors and the press have extensively 
documented the use of U.S. arms in strikes leading to large numbers of 
civilian deaths and injuries.
  The Israeli military campaign is not just something that concerns me 
or millions of Americans. It is also something that has been troubling 
to the entire international community. The U.N. General Assembly and 
U.N. Security Council have voted repeatedly and overwhelmingly to try 
to secure humanitarian access to stop the bombardments and to enact the 
humanitarian cease-fire. Unfortunately, our government has voted 
against or vetoed most of those efforts.
  We all know that Hamas started this war with its brutal terrorist 
attack on October 7, an attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 
innocent people, injuries of more, and the taking of over 200 hostages.
  In my view, there is absolutely no question that Israel has the right 
to defend itself and respond against the perpetrators of that horrific 
attack; but while it is clear that Israel has the right to go to war 
against Hamas, in my view, it does not have the right to go to war 
against the entire Palestinian people, including many hundreds of 
thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza.
  Israel has relied on widespread bombardment, including with massive 
explosive ordinance in densely populated urban areas. This bombardment 
and the severe humanitarian restrictions have led to a catastrophe that 
veteran aid workers say goes beyond anything they have ever seen 
before.
  And let me say a word. Let me be very clear about what the 
devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza looks like right now, today. Up 
to now, some 23,000 Palestinians have been killed--70 percent of whom 
are women and children.
  Let me repeat: Some 23,000 Palestinians--remember, we are talking 
about a population of a little over 2 million people. Some 23,000 
Palestinians have been killed, 70 percent of whom are women and 
children.
  More than 58,000 people have been wounded; 146 United Nations workers 
have been killed--more U.N. workers killed than in any previous war 
ever.
  In Gaza--and this, again, is just unspeakable. In Gaza, 1.9 million 
people have been displaced by the bombing. They have been thrown out of 
their homes. And that is more than 85 percent of the population.
  Can you imagine a population of some 2.2 million people and 85 
percent of those people have been forced out of their homes? And many 
of those people today are homeless. And some 1.4 million of them are 
crowded into U.N. facilities which were never, ever, ever intended to 
be housing the kinds of populations that they are forced to house

[[Page S68]]

today. And, today, tens of thousands of Palestinians are sleeping out 
in the cold as winter sets in.
  What is also quite unbelievable is that over 70 percent of the 
housing units in Gaza have now been damaged or destroyed.
  Let me repeat that. It is really quite unbelievable. It is a war that 
has gone on for 3 months--only 3 months--and 70 percent of the housing 
units in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
  Unbelievably, according to a study by Professor Robert Pape of the 
University of Chicago, what that statistic of 70 percent destruction in 
housing means is that what is going on in Gaza after 3 months of war 
has surpassed the destruction that took place in Dresden during World 
War II.
  I think when any person in America who knows anything about history 
or anybody around the world thinks about the city of Dresden, what 
comes to mind is the horrific bombardments that took place by U.S. and 
British Air Force and the destruction in the city. Those attacks during 
World War II took place over 2 years. The destruction in Gaza after 3 
months, in terms of housing, is worse than what took place in Dresden 
over 2 years.

  Now let me say a word about another horrific reality that is taking 
place in Gaza. So, above and beyond the death and destruction caused by 
bombs and the Israeli military campaign, what we are now looking at is 
the reality that Israel has made it extremely difficult from the very 
start of this war for food, water, medical supplies, and fuel to get 
into Gaza. This is no great secret. I think everybody knows it. The 
result of it is that, right now as we speak, starvation and hunger are 
a reality for the women, the children, and the men in Gaza--starvation.
  The United Nations reports that more than 90 percent of the 
population there faces ``acute food insecurity'' and that virtually 
every household is skipping meals many days. Gaza is at risk of 
widespread famine in the coming weeks and months. Hundreds of thousands 
of children go to sleep hungry every night, and desperate Gazans--I 
think we have pictures of this--are mobbing the few U.N. relief trucks 
that can reach beyond the border crossing. These are hungry people who 
see a truck full of food, and they are attacking that truck and eating 
the food as quickly as they can.
  Gaza's healthcare system has collapsed, with little electricity, 
water, medicine, or fuel. Only 11 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are able to 
function at all, and those that remain open can barely care for the 
patients who go to them.
  The lack of sanitation and the destruction of the infrastructure 
there is leading to disease. In overcrowded U.N. facilities, thousands 
of people must share a single shower, and more than 220 people have to 
share a toilet. That is just a small piece of the horrible reality that 
is taking place in Gaza right now.
  Now, some people may say: Well, you know, war is terrible, and this 
is war, and there is always collateral damage in war. But this is not 
just another war; this is wholesale destruction in an almost 
unprecedented manner. It is clear to me that the Netanyahu rightwing, 
extremist government in Israel is now waging this war in a deeply 
reckless and immoral way.
  In other words, we all know that war is horrible and that we have to 
do a lot better than we are doing right now in trying to eliminate war 
on this planet. In war, there is always collateral damage, but 
something more is going on here right now.
  I would mention to the Presiding Officer that many senior figures in 
the Netanyahu government have said things that only deepen the profound 
concern we should all feel about what is going on in Gaza today.
  Several of these government officials have talked openly about 
reestablishing Israeli settlements in Gaza.
  The current Intelligence Minister, among other senior officials, 
openly talks of permanently displacing Palestinians from Gaza.
  The Defense Minister declared a ``total siege'' at the start of the 
war.
  The Heritage Minister posted a picture of the devastation, saying 
Gaza was ``more beautiful than ever, bombing and flattening 
everything.'' All that destruction makes Gaza more beautiful than ever.
  Another Israeli lawmaker said:

       The Gaza Strip should be flattened, and there should be one 
     sentence for everyone there--death. We have to wipe the Gaza 
     Strip off the map. There are no innocents there.

  I could go on and on with other terrible quotes from leading 
officials in the rightwing government of Netanyahu.
  Given all of this--given the scale of the destruction, the 
unprecedented level of destruction, and the extent of use of U.S. arms 
in this campaign, including thousands of massive, 2,000-pound bombs--
Congress must act to conduct real oversight. That is what the law is 
about, and that is why I hope we are going to have widespread support 
for the 502B resolution I will be offering next week.
  The United States, whether we like it or not, is deeply complicit in 
what is going on in Gaza right now. Those are our weapons that are 
killing women and children in huge numbers, that are destroying homes 
in huge numbers, that are causing massive levels of injury, that are 
resulting in the hunger and the lack of medical care the people of Gaza 
are now experiencing.
  I have supported Israel for many years, and many of my colleagues 
have as well. I don't think there is any debate in Congress that Israel 
has a right to live in peace and security--something that has not 
always been the case. They have been subjected time and again to 
horrific terrorist attacks. They have the right to live in peace and 
security, but I do not believe we are doing Israel any favors by 
ignoring what their policies are doing right now. Friends have to be 
prepared to tell friends the truth, and if Israel is a friend of ours, 
as it is, we have to tell them the truth. The truth is that, all over 
the world, people are outraged by Netanyahu's campaigns and destruction 
against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
  The Biden administration has urged Israel to change its tactics and 
to be more targeted in its military operations and to protect 
civilians. We have heard the President say this over and over again. We 
have heard Secretary Blinken say this over and over again. But the 
Netanyahu government clearly has not listened, and they have continued 
their very destructive war in violation of international law. Their war 
is in violation of international law. In my view, that approach is 
simply unacceptable and is not something we should be supportive of. In 
my view, the United States must end our complicity in what is going on 
in Gaza right now.
  What this resolution is about, again, is not cutting one nickel of 
aid to Israel. That is not what this resolution does. And you don't 
have to agree with me in terms of what I perceive is going on in Israel 
today. You can disagree with me completely. All this resolution does is 
ask for more information from the State Department, which allows us to 
determine whether or not Israel is violating international law. This is 
information Congress should have. Whatever your views on the war may 
be, this resolution should be something you can support. We are asking 
the State Department for information. That is what we are doing. That 
is all this resolution does.
  If you believe that the military campaign in Gaza by Israel has been 
indiscriminate, as I do, then we have the responsibility to ask that 
question. If you believe that Israel has done nothing wrong, that what 
they are doing is consistent with international law, which is what the 
Israeli Government says, then the information coming from the State 
Department should buttress your belief.
  So let me conclude by saying that we are not all likely to agree on 
the Israeli-Palestinian situation anytime soon, and we will have more 
chances to debate these issues if and when we consider a foreign aid 
supplemental bill, but asking for more information as to how American 
arms and security assistance are being used, particularly amid the 
level of death and destruction we are seeing in Gaza right now, should 
not be controversial. In fact, it is exactly what our job is.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cortez Masto). The majority leader.