By Aila Slisco
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) led a group of Democrats introducing a House resolution opposing a proposed sale of U.S. arms to Israel on Wednesday, while the Biden administration is opposing a United Nations (U.N.) resolution calling for an end to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The U.S. repeatedly blocked the U.N. Security Council’s attempt to issue a press release calling for an end to hostilities between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, according to the Associated Press. It also opposed a resolution calling for an end to the conflict, arguing that it could “undermine” its own “efforts to de-escalate,” with President Joe Biden having told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that “he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire.”
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) introduced a House resolution against the proposed sale of $735 million in U.S.-made arms to Israel. The Biden administration submitted the proposal to Congress for review on May 5, five days before the current conflict started.
“For decades, the U.S. has sold billions of dollars in weaponry to Israel without ever requiring them to respect basic Palestinian rights,” Ocasio-Cortez in a statement. “In so doing, we have directly contributed to the death, displacement and disenfranchisement of millions.”
“At a time when so many, including President Biden, support a ceasefire, we should not be sending ‘direct attack’ weaponry to Prime Minister Netanyahu to prolong this violence,” she added.