Historic Bill Introduced to Block Bombs to Israel | Palestine Policy Roundup 06.09.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Trump has bypassed Congressional oversight on weapons transfers. The Israeli government is currently escalating attacks on the civilian population of Gaza. They are both out of control. Congress needs to assert its oversight authority. Enough is enough. By introducing the Block the Bombs Act, a broad coalition is listening to the American people who don't want their taxpayers' money to continue supporting gross violations of US, international, and humanitarian law.”
Rep. Summer Lee: “The Israeli government’s genocide and forced famine in Gaza is collective punishment funded by our tax dollars and carried out with American-made weapons. The U.S. must withhold weapons—from them and any entity violating international humanitarian law. Congress must pass the Block the Bombs Act and save lives.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Israeli forces are shooting and killing starving Palestinians trying to get food at the new US-backed sites, with another massacre today. The UN says ‘aid distribution has become a death trap.’ This is genocide.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “US support for Netanyahu’s war of starvation against the Palestinian people is a horror unto itself. It also sends a signal to every tyrant in the world that international law can be violated with impunity & that barbarism is acceptable. We must stop all military aid to Israel.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
💣 REPRESENTATIVES ANNOUNCE HISTORIC LEGISLATION TO PROACTIVELY BLOCK KEY WEAPONS TO ISRAEL
On Thursday, Reps. Delia Ramirez, Pramila Jayapal, Mark Pocan, and Sara Jacobs announced the introduction of the Block the Bombs Act, H.R.3565, a historic bill which would proactively block the shipment of weapons to Israel that it has used extensively in its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
If enacted into law, this bill would proactively block the following weapons to Israel: BLU-109 bunker busting bombs, MK80 series bombs, GBU-39 small diameter bomb variants, Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), SPICE gliding bomb assemblies, 120mm tank ammunition, and 155mm artillery ammunition, including white phosphorus munitions.
Since October 2023, the Biden and Trump administrations have delivered more than $30 billion of US taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel to enable it to perpetrate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, making the US complicit in Israel’s actions.
These weapons deliveries have taken place in violation of US law, which prevents any form of US assistance going to a country which blocks the delivery of US humanitarian aid and engages in a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations.
Israel has used these weapons extensively during its genocide in Gaza. In just the last month, fragments of GBU-39 small diameter bombs were found in the debris of Israel’s strike on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school in Gaza City, while Israel’s attack on the Gaza European Hospital used US-supplied “bunker busters,” killing nearly 60 Palestinians between the two attacks.
As Israel prepares to potentially carry out its long-standing plans for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza–with the full support of the Trump administration–this bill sends a clear message of opposition to US support for this crime and to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
💡POLICY ASK: IMEU Policy Project strongly urges all Representatives to cosponsor this historic bill to ensure that US laws regarding weapons transfers are upheld.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on Israel’s use of these weapons in Gaza and the need for this bill.
📣 TAKE ACTION: Write to your representative and ask them to cosponsor H.R.3565, the Block the Bombs Act.
❌ NEARLY 100 REPRESENTATIVES DEMAND AN END TO ISRAEL’S BLOCKADE OF AID ENTERING GAZA
Last Wednesday, 92 Members of Congress joined Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Jamie Raskin, Bill Keating, Valerie Foushee, and Becca Balint in introducing H.Res.473, which calls for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and for the Trump administration to use all diplomatic tools to end Israel’s blockade of aid entering Gaza.
This resolution is a House companion to S.Res.224, which was introduced in the Senate by Senator Peter Welch and supported by all Democratic and independent senators except John Fetterman. Senate Republicans blocked that resolution from being considered.
Through both resolutions, lawmakers are sending a clear message of opposition to the Trump administration’s support for Israel’s use of starvation as a method of warfare. The US- and Israeli-backed weaponization of food, characterized by the trickle of aid allowed into Gaza via the shadowy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, does not meet the needs of Palestinians who have suffered under Israel’s blockade since March 2. Israel’s forced starvation of over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza has transformed into a violent scheme to militarize food, which has been decried by the UN and all humanitarian aid organizations on the ground.
As Palestinians face a critical risk of famine due to Israel’s blockade, it is crucial that members of Congress continue to speak out.
IN THE NEWS
⛵ ACTIVISTS ATTEMPTING TO BREAK ISRAEL’S SIEGE OF GAZA DETAINED BY ISRAELI MILITARY
Last night, Israeli commandos unlawfully boarded the Madleen, a ship carrying food and other aid to Gaza in response to Israel’s three-months-long blockade on the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory, detaining its crew and supplies while it was in international waters. Israel’s blocking of this ship while it was in international waters is a violation of international law and of its obligations to allow aid into Gaza as ordered by the International Court of Justice.
The 12 activists on board set sail as part of the Freedom Flotilla coalition last Sunday. The activists had hoped to break Israel’s inhumane blockade and to bring attention to Israel’s forced starvation and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Among the participants in the flotilla is climate justice activist Greta Thunberg.
Since the Madleen set sail, it faced threats from Republican Members of Congress–including Senator Lindsey Graham–and the Israeli military. Last Tuesday, the ship was circled by two drones while it was 80 nautical miles south of Crete in a move the activists said was an attempt to surveil and intimidate them. They were later informed that the drones were operated by the Hellenic Coast Guard or EU Coast Guard authorities, but the Hellenic Coast Guard refused to identify the drones or respond to the ship’s distress call.
Israel has a history of attacking these humanitarian flotillas. In 2010, Israeli naval commandos raided the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in a major flotilla that sought to break Israel’s now 17-year-long illegal blockade of Gaza. 9 activists on the ship were killed by Israeli commandos in that attack, including US citizen Furkan Doǧan. Israel has also killed humanitarian workers during its genocide in Gaza, including US citizen Jacob Fleckinger.
Additionally, just last month, another ship with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that was attempting to bring aid to Gaza was attacked by drones while in international waters off the coast of Malta. The drones breached the ship’s hull and caused a fire. The coalition later accused Israel of carrying out these strikes.
🚩 GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION NAMES EVANGELICAL TRUMP ALLY AS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
Last week, the shadowy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) named Johnnie Moore, Jr., an evangelical Christian pastor and former faith advisor to President Donald Trump, as its new executive chairman. Moore has had a relationship with President Trump since his 2016 presidential campaign, serving as a member of his evangelical advisory council and being twice appointed by Trump to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Like many others connected to the Trump administration, Moore has a record of anti-Palestinian racism fueled by Christian Zionist beliefs. He sits on the board of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an organization that promotes Jewish migration to Israel as a condition of the fulfillment of an apocalyptic biblical prophecy.
Moore has also expressed support for President Trump’s proposal for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and a US takeover of the area. Since taking over the GHF, Moore has dismissed reports of Israeli attacks on Palestinians seeking food at its distribution sites.
The naming of Moore as the leader of the foundation emphasizes the points made by GHF’s former leader Jake Wood in his resignation–that the foundation is unable to meet the humanitarian principles of independence and impartiality. Moore’s appointment only further exposes the true nature of the GHF project: to expedite Israel’s concentration of Palestinians in the southernmost portion of Gaza as a potential prelude to the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🍎 ISRAELI MILITARY KILLS MORE PALESTINIANS SEEKING FOOD
Over the past week, in several separate attacks, the Israeli military killed dozens more Palestinians who were seeking food at the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites. As reported in last week’s newsletter, Israeli soldiers killed more than 30 Palestinians and injured dozens more as they were waiting for a GHF site to open in Rafah on the Sunday before last.
An investigation by CNN supported reports by Palestinians that Israeli troops shot and killed those seeking aid during that attack. Weapons experts interviewed by CNN analyzed footage from the attack and said that the ammunition and rate of fire is consistent with machine guns mounted on Israeli tanks.
Another expert said the irregular nature of the fire suggested that gunfire was sprayed over the area. Dr. Ahmad Abou-Sweid, who was working at the Nasser Hospital Complex during the attack, described a “...heavy proportion of head-targeted injuries from bullet wounds” in the patients he treated that day.
The Israeli military continued with three more attacks on Palestinians near GHF sites last week. Last Monday, Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians and injured dozens more as they attempted to receive food at the same GHF site in Rafah.
The next day, the Israeli military killed nearly 30 Palestinians in the same place where Sunday’s attack happened. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described this attack as a war crime and an attack directed against civilians. Mohammed Saqr, Nasser Hospital’s Head of Nursing, noted that his patients had gunshot wounds and shrapnel all over their bodies, suggesting some Palestinians were targeted by tanks or artillery.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Tamer Nassar, a Palestinian who attempted to receive food at the site, described for The Guardian the attack and the desperate circumstances that impelled him to go there: “The gunfire suddenly and deliberately erupted at everyone present in the distribution area. Bullets were raining down on us from everywhere: from the sea, from the air, from the hills, from all directions…I raised my shoulder while trying to lie on my stomach, and that’s when the first bullet struck my shoulder. Anyone who tried to help the wounded was also shot at. We decided to go there today despite the extreme danger. If we had food at home to silence our children’s hunger, we wouldn’t have gone and risked our lives.”
Israel’s attacks continued over the weekend, killing six Palestinians in an attack in Rafah on Saturday and 13 Palestinians in attacks at distribution sites in Rafah and Wadi Gaza. Israel has killed more than 130 Palestinians and wounded more than 700 trying to receive food at these sites since GHF began its operations on May 27.
Many of these attacks are also happening during pre-dawn hours long before the GHF sites open. Due to the inadequacy of GHF's food supply, Palestinians often report that there is not enough food for everyone who needs it, forcing them to arrive at these sites many hours before they open in an attempt to be the first ones to receive these paltry parcels.
The food distributed at these sites is inadequate to meet the needs of Palestinians, which are exacerbated by Israel’s now three-month-long blockade of virtually all humanitarian aid entering Gaza. According to the UN, more than 2,700 Palestinian children in Gaza have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition. Because of Israel’s blockade of food, medicine, fuel, and other essential aid and its destruction of Gaza’s medical infrastructure, those children cannot receive the specialized care they need.
⚠️ ISRAELI MILITARY KILLS PALESTINIAN CHILD IN THE WEST BANK AS ISRAELI THEFT OF PALESTINIAN LAND ESCALATES
Israeli soldiers shot and killed Yousef Fuad Abdulkarim Foqahaa, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy, in the town of Sinjil near Ramallah last Monday. After they shot him, Israeli soldiers approached him and prevented others from reaching him until an Israeli military ambulance took him to an unknown location. Now, Israel is withholding Yousef’s body. Yousef is the 28th Palestinian child to be killed this year by Israel in the West Bank.
The day after Israel killed Yousef, masked Israeli soldiers blocked a group of international journalists from visiting Masafer Yatta–the collection of villages in the southern West Bank that was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. The documentary’s director Basel Adra had invited the journalists to his home to report on Israel’s destruction of Masafer Yatta.
This came on the heels of Israel’s announcement in late May that it would expand its illegal settlements in the West Bank. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the creation of 22 settlements in the occupied territory, including settlement outposts initially created without the backing of the Israeli government. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.