Annie Comes Home: Senators are voting! Let’s block Trump’s $8.56 billion weapons deal to the Israeli govt

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Senators are voting! Let’s block Trump’s $8.56 billion weapons deal to the Israeli govt

Pamela, the suffering seems to have no bounds. Over the weekend, Israeli military strikes in Gaza killed dozens of people, including women and children, huddled in encampments. Aid workers were found among the bodies in a mass grave. And this morning, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the operation will expand even further. Hostage families are reportedly “horrified” by the news.[1]

It’s rarely been more clear that more bombs won’t bring the remaining hostages back home to their loved ones or build a path to peace.

No matter: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has abandoned a life-saving ceasefire for continued suffering and violence. Trump would fuel the horrors with BILLIONS of dollars worth of U.S.-made bombs, missiles, and bullets.

Members of Congress should act to BLOCK this sale immediately — and they’ll soon get the chance to do just that when Sen. Bernie Sanders forces a vote on two joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs) that could stop the sale in its tracks TOMORROW.

Passing these bills will be anything but easy, Pamela, and that’s why we need your help to send a loud and clear message to every Senator now: The United States cannot continue to support the Israeli army unconditionally with more deadly offensive weapons.

Today, we have a choice: Allow Trump and PM Netanyahu to bulldoze and bomb their way forward or demand a new path. Sign now and urge the Senate to vote YES on the JRDs, BLOCK billions of dollars in offensive weapons from making their way to the Israeli government, and END a horrific era of U.S. complicity.

ACT NOW

There are no ‘safe’ zones in Gaza. Hospitals have closed. Hundreds of thousands of people are starving. Aid workers have been targeted. Hostages remain captive.

The devastation is staggering, but it could get worse still: Trump’s weapons deal would send tens of thousands of bombs, missiles, and artillery shells to a government committing likely war crimes, including the use of white phosphorus on civilian populations, leveling entire communities, and blocking vital humanitarian aid.

It may not surprise you this deal may not even be legal. As Senator Sanders noted when he introduced the JRDs, The Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act require that U.S. arms transfers be consistent with internationally recognized human rights, advance U.S. foreign policy interests, and avoid the association of the United States with human rights violations. The Foreign Assistance Act also bars the U.S. government from sending arms to any government that interferes with or prohibits U.S. humanitarian aid from reaching people.

Speaking out today is about more than just stopping an arms sale, Pamela. This is about saving lives and sending a global message: No one is above the law.

Together, we built a coalition of activists who demanded change and successfully got bipartisan majorities of a Republican-led Congress to vote against weapon sales to Saudi Arabia in the face of incredible suffering and violence in Yemen during the first Trump administration.

That’s not all. In early 2024, just 11 senators voted to request a simple human rights report on the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza. But with the support of activists like you, alongside partners across the movement, we pushed the number of senators willing to vote to block offensive weapons sales altogether to 19 by November. Now, with legislation moving in both chambers, the tide is turning, but we’ll need to keep speaking out if we want the seachange necessary to save lives.

Tell Senators: No one is above the law. No more bombs for PM Netanyahu’s war machine. Pass the JRDs now.

With this sale Trump would greenlight more of the same violence that has already left over 50,144 Palestinians dead and turned Gaza into rubble — but Congress has the power to block this deal before more U.S. weapons enable further suffering and violence. Right now, the kind of pressure that can push them to do it is building.

We know what happens when Congress fails to act. More weapons. More bombs. More deaths. Today, we can choose a different future by sending the world a crucially needed reminder that people in the United States remain committed to building peace in Palestine, Israel, and beyond.

Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team

1. CNN, “Israel announces expansion of military operation in Gaza to seize ‘large areas’ of land, ordering residents to leave”