MEDIA ADVISORY: Sanders, Merkley, Welch, and Van Hollen to Hold Press Conference Ahead of Wednesday Vote to Block Offensive Arm Sales to Israel

MEDIA ADVISORY: Sanders, Merkley, Welch, and Van Hollen to Hold Press Conference Ahead of Wednesday Vote to Block Offensive Arm Sales to Israel

• November 18, 2024

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today announced that he will hold a press conference on Tuesday, with Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), to discuss the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) to block the sale of certain offensive arms to Israel. Sanders will bring the JRDs to the Senate floor for a vote this Wednesday. The resolutions were officially introduced on September 25, 2024. Sens. Merkley and Welch are cosponsors on resolutions to block the sale of 120mm mortar rounds and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMS). Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) joins them as a cosponsor on a third resolution to block the sale of tank rounds.

The JRD is the only formal mechanism available to Congress to prevent an arms sale noticed by the Administration from advancing.

Out of a population of 2.2 million, over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and 103,000 injured since the start of the war in Gaza - sixty percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. The Netanyahu government has destroyed 70 percent of the housing in Gaza, the civilian infrastructure, the health care system, and hundreds of schools. It has bombed every one of Gaza's 12 universities.

The Netanyahu government has relied heavily on American-supplied weapons funded with U.S. taxpayer dollars. It has indiscriminately dropped U.S.-provided 2,000-pound bombs into crowded neighborhoods and failed to distinguish between civilians and combatants in hundreds of concerning incidents in which civilians were killed.

To read the fact sheet, click here.

Details
What: Press conference to discuss Wednesday's votes on the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to ban the sale of certain offensive arms to Israel
When: 12:00 p.m. ET, Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Where: Senate Radio-TV Gallery. The press conference will also be livestreamed on Sanders' social media.
Who:

• Sen. Bernie Sanders
• Sen. Jeff Merkley
• Sen. Peter Welch
• Sen. Chris Van Hollen