RI senators missed historic moment to block weapons to Israel | Opinion

Allie Trionfetti is a member of the Rhode Island chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, an American Jewish anti-Zionist advocacy group. She lives in Providence.

On Nov. 20, the U.S. Senate voted against the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) — legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have blocked a $20-billion weapons shipment to Israel. For the first time in U.S. history, a weapons shipment to Israel had been challenged. The day after, the International Criminal Court (ICC)issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Much has happened in the weeks since — including Gallant’s welcome at the White House and Israel’s seizure and bombardment of sovereign Syrian land (480 strikes in 48 hours).

All of this is illegal and none of it would be possible without unwavering U.S. military aid and diplomatic cover. 

While the JRD did not pass, it garnered considerable Democratic support — but not from our Rhode Island senators. Shamefully, Rhode Island was the only New England state fully opposed to the JRD. Neither Reed nor Whitehouse found it critical to halt weapons sales to a country whose two highest-ranking leaders would face international arrest warrants less than 24 hours later. 

In a statement on his nay vote, Whitehouse described Netanyahu’s conduct as having “veered off course.” Israeli military operationshave killed over 44,800 in Gaza, includinghundreds of health and aid workers. Netanyahu’s clear “course” is one of ethnic cleansing, targeting medical, water and sanitation infrastructure necessary for life in Gaza. Whitehouse characterizes Israel as “a country that represents our values in a very dangerous neighborhood,” echoing racist, ethno-nationalistic sentiments that have been a driving force of American imperialism at home and abroad since our country’s inception. In this, Whitehouse is undoubtedly correct that Israel represents our values — but he considers this a point of pride rather than condemnation.

How dare Whitehouse offer this smug, indirect justification of Israel’s genocidal behavior. Israel’s war on Gaza killed more children in its first four months than were killed in four years of global conflict. Anyone who calls this scale of annihilation self-defense is willfully misinformed or deliberately partaking of propaganda. When that privileged ignorance falls among congressional leaders it is a stain of their complicity in these atrocities. 

The JRD was an historic intervention to uphold pre-existing federal laws. TheLeahy Law and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act state that the Department of Defense may not provide equipment to any foreign security force that has committed gross human rights violations or prohibits delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance. Yet, U.S.-supplied bombs have been linked to war crimes in Gaza andLebanon. Reed released a November 2023joint statement with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, saying that U.S. military sales to Israel “must adhere (…) to international humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict, and U.S. law.” Van Hollen and Schatz signed on to the JRD to abide by these laws and made good on their words; Reed did not. 

Reed and Whitehouse missed an opportunity to be part of an historic shift in U.S. policy. They failed to uphold international and U.S. law and the will of their increasingly disillusioned base. They must now amplify the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. When the court issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, Senator Whitehousejoined a bipartisan group of senators who urged President Biden to support the investigation for the sake of accountability and justice. With Netanyahu, it should be no different. Our senators are running out of opportunities to match their policies with their proclaimed commitment to upholding international and U.S. humanitarian law. 

As a member of Jewish Voice for Peace-Rhode Island, a coalition of anti-Zionist Jews and allies, I am firm in my commitment to a full arms embargo against Israel. We are witnessing a genocide thatover 250 international human rights and aid organizations have corroborated in devastating detail. The JRD was not a call for a full arms embargo. It represented a tiny, crucial interruption in a massive flow of weaponry that has killed a population with the largest number of verified deaths among 5- to 9-year-olds. We demand to know how Whitehouse and Reed justify their votes against halting a single arms shipment to a pariah state whose leaders are facing arrests for war crimes and crimes against humanity and who are now seizing and bombing sovereign territory, expanding their horrific death toll and sowing escalatory chaos. 

Allie Trionfetti is a member of the Rhode Island chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, an American Jewish anti-Zionist advocacy group. She lives in Providence.