WASHINGTON: US Senator Bernie Sanders said on Thursday he would force votes next week on resolutions that would block $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel, citing the human rights crisis faced by Palestinians in Gaza after Israel’s bombardment of the enclave and its suspension of aid deliveries.
“(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has clearly violated US and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage,” Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said in a statement announcing his plan.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli campaign in Gaza, Palestinian officials say. It was launched after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.
A decades-long tradition of strong bipartisan support for Israel in the US Congress means resolutions to stop weapons sales are unlikely to pass, but backers hope that raising the issue will encourage Israel’s government and US administrations to do more to protect civilians.
“No humanitarian aid has entered Gaza in more than three and a half weeks since Israeli authorities announced a complete blockade – that’s no food, water, medicine, or fuel since the start of March,” Sanders said in a statement.
Last month, the UN Human Rights Chief accused Israel on Wednesday of showing an unprecedented disregard for human rights in its military actions in Gaza and said Hamas had violated international law.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly in November to block three resolutions introduced by Sanders that would have halted transfers of weapons approved by the administration of then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat whom progressives criticized as doing too little to help Palestinians as conditions in Gaza worsened.
President Donald Trump, who began a second term on Jan. 20 and is a fierce advocate for Israel, has reversed Biden’s efforts to place some limits on what arms are sent to Netanyahu’s government.
Last month, Trump sidestepped the congressional review process to approve billions of dollars in military sales to Israel.
US law gives Congress the right to stop major foreign weapons sales by passing resolutions of disapproval. Although no such resolution has both passed Congress and survived a presidential veto, the law requires the Senate to vote if a resolution is filed. Such resolutions have at times led to angry debates embarrassing to past presidents.
US Senator Sanders to force Senate votes on blocking arms for Israel
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US Senator Sanders to force Senate votes on blocking arms for Israel
- "Netanyahu has clearly violated US and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage,” Sanders said in a statement announcing his plan
Medecins Sans Frontieres ‘appalled’ by second staff member killed in Gaza within weeks
GENEVA: Global medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday it was appalled and saddened by the killing of one of its staff by an air strike in Gaza, the second within two weeks.
Hussam Al Loulou died in the strike on Apr. 1 in central Gaza, alongside his wife and 28-year-old daughter, the organization said.
Uganda president holds talks with South Sudanese leaders to try to avoid civil war
- Goc said that the country’s leadership had assured Museveni of its commitment to implement the peace agreement
- Uganda last month deployed troops to South Sudan to support the government
NAIROBI: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni was expected to meet South Sudanese officials on the second day of his trip to the capital, Juba, as the UN has expressed concern of a renewed civil war after the main opposition leader was put under house arrest.
Museveni, who is among the guarantors of a 2018 peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war, held closed-door discussions with President Salva Kiir on Thursday.
South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdallah Goc said that the country’s leadership had assured Museveni of its commitment to implement the peace agreement.
South Sudan’s political landscape remains fragile and recent violence between government troops and armed groups allied to the opposition have escalated tension.
Uganda last month deployed troops to South Sudan to support the government, but it was criticized by South Sudan’s main opposition party SPLM-IO, whose leader Riek Machar is under house arrest on charges of incitement.
In early March, the armed group loyal to Machar attacked a UN helicopter that was on a mission to evacuate government troops from the restive northern Upper Nile State.
Western countries including Germany and Norway have temporarily closed their embassies in Juba while the USand the UK have reduced embassy staff.
Turkiye wants no confrontation with Israel in Syria, foreign minister says
- Fidan said Israel’s actions in Syria were paving the way for future regional instability
- If the new administration in Damascus wants to have “certain understandings” with Israel, then that is their own business, he added
BRUSSELS: Turkiye wants no confrontation with Israel in Syria after repeated Israeli attacks on military sites there undermined the new government’s ability to deter threats, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Friday.
In an interview on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Fidan said Israel’s actions in Syria — where the administration of President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is a close Turkish ally — were paving the way for future regional instability.
If the new administration in Damascus wants to have “certain understandings” with Israel, which like Turkiye is a neighbor of Syria, then that is their own business, he added.
NATO member Turkiye has fiercely criticized Israel over its attacks on Gaza since 2023, saying they amount to a genocide against the Palestinians, and has applied to join a case at the World Court against Israel while also halting all trade.
Israel denies the genocide accusations.
The animosity between the regional powers has spilled over into Syria, with Israeli forces striking Syria for weeks since a new administration took control in Damascus. Turkiye has called the Israeli strikes an encroachment on Syrian territories, while Israel has said it would not allow any hostile forces in Syria.
Asked about US President Donald Trump’s threats of military strikes against Iran, Fidan said diplomacy was needed to resolve the dispute and that Ankara did not want to see any attack taking place against its neighbor Iran.
Hungary’s ICC withdrawal no excuse not to arrest Netanyahu: Amnesty International
- Hungarian PM said his country would leave International Criminal Court after receiving Israeli counterpart this week
- ‘By welcoming Netanyahu, Hungary is effectively giving a seal of approval to Israel’s genocide’
LONDON: Amnesty International has warned Hungary that withdrawing from the International Criminal Court would not excuse it from failing to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced his intention for his country to leave the ICC on Thursday, saying he believed it had been “diminished into a political forum.”
He made the statement after welcoming Netanyahu to Budapest, where the Israeli premier is on an official four-day visit.
Netanyahu is the subject of an international arrest warrant, issued by the ICC, for alleged crimes committed during the war in Gaza.
Amnesty called Orban’s statement “a betrayal of all victims of war crimes,” which “undermines the protections afforded the Hungarian people, as it removes, in a year, their opportunity to seek justice at the ICC for crimes committed against them.”
In a statement, Amnesty’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said: “Prime Minister Orban is harbouring a wanted ICC fugitive. Benjamin Netanyahu is accused by the ICC of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians.
“By welcoming Netanyahu, Hungary is effectively giving a seal of approval to Israel’s genocide, namely the physical destruction of the Palestinian people in whole or in part in Gaza.
“Leaders and officials from ICC member states must not participate in undermining the ICC through meeting with Netanyahu or any other ICC fugitives who are wanted by the Court.
“Netanyahu’s shameful trip to Hungary must not become an impunity tour of other ICC member states.”
Orban said he would ignore the ICC arrest warrant after it was issued last year, inviting Netanyahu personally to visit Hungary.
Withdrawal from the ICC is possible under Article 127 of the Rome Statute but takes a year to complete. During that time, Hungary’s legal obligations to the ICC remain in place.
“Hungary’s purported withdrawal from the ICC is a brazen and futile attempt to evade international justice and to stymy the ICC’s work,” Callamard said.
“This cynical announcement does not change the fact that Hungary still has a fundamental obligation to arrest and surrender Benjamin Netanyahu to the ICC.
“Any withdrawal would take effect in one year and must not distract from Hungary’s international legal obligations.
“The EU institutions and member states must be unequivocal about what this visit is: a direct attack by Hungary to undermine the ICC and its work, weaken the European Union at a time when it needs to stand strong and united, and an insult to all victims who are looking for justice.”
Callamard added: “The EU and all ICC member states must urgently call on Hungary to arrest and surrender Netanyahu and firmly commit to defending the Court from insidious threats to international justice which a visit of this kind represents.
“This moral bankruptcy must be stopped before it spirals into further damage for the international rules-based order.”
Amnesty noted that during the conflict so far at least 50,140 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 114,000 injured, and 1.9 million forcibly displaced by Israeli military activity.
Saudi crown prince, Iranian president discuss regional developments
- Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shared a call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian
- The two leaders reviewed several issues of mutual concern, Saudi Press Agency reports
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shared a call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Saudi Press Agency reported early on Friday.
During the call, the leaders discussed recent developments in the region and reviewed several issues of mutual concern.
