Sen. Van Hollen supports joint resolutions of disapproval limiting offensive weapons to Israel

Sen. Van Hollen urges pause on offensive weapons to Israel until humanitarian requirements met, while maintaining support for defensive aid like Iron Dome.

By HANNAH SARISOHN NOVEMBER 18, 2024 19:06 Updated: NOVEMBER 18, 2024 19:07

Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) delivers opening remarks during a Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee hearing on President Biden’s proposed budget request for the Department of Treasury, with testimony from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, on Capitol Hi (photo credit: REUTERS/Anna Rose Layden)

The US should pause delivery of offensive weapons to Israel until Netanyahu's government meets the requirements of US law and policy with respect to humanitarian assistance delivery, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen from Maryland wrote in a letter to his Senate colleagues on Monday. 

Van Hollen's letter comes days before the Senate is set to vote Wednesday on several joint resolutions blocking certain offensive weapons sales to Israel, brought forward by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). 

Van Hollen stated he does not support a total arms embargo on Israel. 

"At the same time, US taxpayer-funded assistance should not come in the form of a blank check – even to our closest allies," Van Hollen wrote to his colleagues. "We need assurances that US interests, values, and priorities will be respected by foreign governments that receive American assistance."

Van Hollen said Netanyahu had been rewarded after repeatedly violating the terms of American security assistance, disregarding US priorities, and ignoring US requests. 

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) speaks during a press conference addressing a new policy that demands recipients of foreign military aid to follow international humanitarian law at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2024. (credit: Nathan Howard/Reuters)

Last week, the State Department determined it would not limit military aid to Israel after the IDF demonstrated taking steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reported. 

The State Department's decision came as the 30-day deadline, whereby Israel had to meet certain requirements in Gaza to avoid the triggering of a mechanism by which military aid would be limited, passed.

Washington warned Israel last month that military aid could be limited until progress was made. It did so based on Memorandum 20, which links such aid to humanitarian action.

According to Van Hollen, the Netanyahu government has failed to meet requirements outlined in the October letter from Biden and Secretaries Blinken and Austin -- and Biden has failed to enforce US law and policy.

Van Hollen also accused the Biden administration of ignoring the law and its own standards regarding the use of American-supplied weapons. 

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Netanyahu has repeatedly obstructed Biden's plan for a ceasefire and return of the hostages while undermining the White House's "day after" plans, the Senator added. 

"I continue to support the transfer of defensive systems, like the Iron Dome, and do not support an arms embargo," Van Hollen concluded. "But the United States should pause the transfer of offensive weapons to the Netanyahu government until it demonstrates a greater willingness to respect the values and the national security interests of the United States."

Jeremy Ben-Ami

Jeremy Ben-Ami, CEO of the progressive group J Street, described the joint resolutions of disapproval as symbolic, given the weapons sales are "a done deal."

"But symbolism has meaning," Ben-Ami wrote in a post on his Substack. "Senators who vote yes can send the important message that even strong friends of Israel disapprove of the way Prime Minister Netanyahu has conducted the Gaza war or his far-right coalition's disrespect for the Biden administration and of the US administration's failure to use its leverage to change Netanyahu's policies and actions."

According to Ben-Ami, there are "multiple reasons" why Senators should vote for at least one resolution on disapproval, including demonstrating "concern as friends" about where Israel is headed if the war isn't stopped now. Another, Ben-Ami said, is America's "own role in this tragedy."

"The US is not an uninvolved observer. It has supplied so many of the weapons that made this devastation possible," he wrote. 

Ben-Ami concluded that "history will not be kind to those who step back when the moment demands a powerful statement of disapproval of how this war has been conducted."

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.