Bernie Sanders to force vote to open inquiry into Israel's use of US weapons in Gaza

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday plans on forcing the Senate to vote on his resolution directing the State Department to investigate whether Israel potentially committed any human rights abuses using U.S. equipment or aid in its war against Hamas in Gaza. 

If the resolution passes, it would require the State Department to provide a report to Congress within 30 days "examining any human rights violations that may have occurred in the course of the military campaign being carried out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government," Sanders said Tuesday. 

The resolution is being brought under a section of the Foreign Assistance Act that allows Congress to instruct the State Department to report on human rights involving any country receiving U.S. security assistance. Congress has not voted on such a request under the act since it became law in 1976, according to Sanders. 

The Vermont independent, who typically caucuses with the Democrats, first introduced the resolution in December. The resolution cannot be amended or filibustered because it is privileged, and it requires a simple majority approval to pass. 

Even if the State Department ultimately provides a report to Congress, lawmakers would then need to consider another resolution on altering security assistance to Israel, and that would need to pass both houses of Congress and be signed into effect by President Joe Biden. 

Sanders, who is Jewish and volunteered in Israel in the 1960s, had expressed support for Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people, but after receiving outrage from fellow progressives, he became significantly more critical of Israel. 

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