EU Leader Calls to Sanction Israel as U.S. Progressives Push to End Arms Sales

The president of the European Union Commission called for sanctions and a partial arrangement suspension against Israel on Wednesday as international outrage grew over the country s strikes on Qatar and Yemen and its ongoing starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commented at her annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg France People killed while begging for food Mothers holding lifeless babies These images are merely catastrophic Von der Leyen s proposed sanctions signaled a doable shift in the West s relationship with its decadeslong ally She explained the commission which operates as the executive branch of the European Union and can take limited unilateral actions would end its bilateral backing of Israel and suspend funding for projects within Israel with exceptions for work with Israeli civil society and Israel s Holocaust remembrance center But more dramatic actions like sanctioning Israeli ministers and partially suspending the EU s exchange agreement with Israel would require potentially laborious votes from EU member states In the United States meanwhile the chorus of progressive voices calling for an end to the country s complicity in the ongoing genocide escalated but remains stymied by the status quo in Washington Related Progressives Urge U S Arms Embargo After Israel Bombs Qatar Gathered in the pouring rain on Wednesday morning progressive Democrats in Congress joined activists including the freed Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and the actors Cynthia Nixon and Morgan Spector to urge Congress to pass the Block the Bombs Act The provision would block the United States from sending selected U S -made weapons to Israel Netanyahu is using U S -supplied weapons to perpetrate this campaign of starvation displacement and death in violation of U S and international humanitarian law explained Rep Delia Ramirez D-Ill who introduced the Block the Bombs Act in the House The bill now boasts co-sponsors including several Democrats who ve received funding from the American Israel Residents Affairs Committee in new polling cycles Even with the growing endorsement for ending the U S shipment of certain types of weapons to Israel among Democrats passing the Block the Bombs Act in either chamber is an uphill battle House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries D-N Y and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N Y have remained steadfast in their endorsement of supplying weapons to Israel No Republicans have signed on to co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act in the House Sen Bernie Sanders I-Vt introduced similar bill in the Senate but despite gaining specific momentum among Democrats it has not been able to garner enough assistance to pass Related EU President Should Be Investigated for Complicity in Israel s War Crimes Says Top U N Expert on Palestine Dramatic penalties against Israel have similarly gained vocal backing in the EU but still struggle to gain final approval Von der Leyen s proposals to sanction extremist ministers and violent settlers and partially suspend the EU s contract agreement with Israel likely faces long odds as less ambitious proposals to sanction Israel have stymied leaving the fate of these two proposals unclear even as selected European nations have condemned Israel for its actions in Gaza and Qatar But in the U S and EU alike critics of Israel s genocide highlighted the moral imperative of action despite political opposition Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war For the sake of the children for the sake of humanity this must stop von der Leyen mentioned Wednesday in Strasbourg Rep Ayanna Pressley D-Mass made similar comments in Washington Our humanity is at stake here she noted Vengeance and greed cannot be the United States guidelines doctrine No country can bomb their way to peace Starving a child is violent The children are all of ours inevitably History has its eyes on us Our children will ask what we did in this moment And the only acceptable answer is everything we could Khalil an Algerian Palestinian activist who was detained by the Trump administration for his advocacy against Israel s genocide at Columbia University revealed he d braved a trip to the seat of the federal regime to fight for his people The U S administration has sent over billion worth of weapons and equipment to the Israeli occupation power over the past two years Khalil explained These weapons and equipment are being used by Israel to kill Palestinians to carry out mass atrocity after another mass atrocity against my people There is one clear and obvious way for Congress to act and save lives They should stop all weapons all weapons Stop sending all weapons to Israel The post EU Leader Calls to Sanction Israel as U S Progressives Push to End Arms Sales appeared first on The Intercept