More Democrats Call to End Weapons to Israel, Cosponsor Block the Bombs Act | Palestine Policy Roundup 08.11.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Chuy Garcia: “Khamis Ayyad, an American citizen and longtime Cicero resident, was killed during an attack on his home in the occupied West Bank. He was trying to put out a fire set by Israeli settlers. I join his family in urging a full U.S. investigation into the incident and demand the accountability of those involved.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez in response to reports of Israel’s plan to violently occupy Gaza: “The plan has always been the occupation of Gaza and the death and displacement of the Palestinian people. He pursues this path even in the face of pressure from every direction to end his siege, negotiate the release of the hostages, and seek peace and safety for Israelis and Palestinians. Congress can stop the delivery of weapons that support Netanyahu's genocidal campaign. Let's pass my Block the Bombs and save lives!”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal: “I believe it is time to name that the government of Israel is committing genocide in Gaza…[the US has] been derelict in not applying our own domestic laws to these military shipments and ignoring international humanitarian laws. This makes us complicit in this genocide. Now we must do everything in our power to uphold our legal obligations by refusing to fund weapons of war to the Government of Israel and by using all our leverage and diplomatic expertise to bring an end to this war and achieve a durable peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: “Netanyahu’s plan to reoccupy Gaza is key to the far-right's goal of taking over Gaza & the West Bank and forcing Palestinians out. Meanwhile, Trump is making us a subcontractor in this operation. US taxpayers should not be funding what amounts to ethnic cleansing by another name.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
🚫 MORE DEMOCRATS CALL FOR BLOCKING WEAPONS TO ISRAEL, COSPONSOR BLOCK THE BOMBS ACT
As Israel’s deliberate and manufactured starvation of Palestinians in Gaza continues to play out, more Democrats are beginning to listen to their voters by calling for blocking weapons to Israel. Just last week, the Block the Bombs Act gained five new cosponsors: Reps. Judy Chu, Ro Khanna, Valerie Foushee, Joaquin Castro, and Jamie Raskin. This brings the number of total cosponsors to 31.
More Democrats have also called for ending weapons to Israel but have not yet cosponsored the Block the Bombs Act: last week, Rep. Maxine Dexter called for “…halt[ing] the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel.” In the previous week, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici called for the US to use its leverage–inluding withholding weapons–to pressure Israel to stop starving Palestinians, while Rep. Gabe Vazquez called for pausing weapons to Israel until a ceasefire is reached. Rep. John Garamendi wrote that “America should no longer provide destructive bombs and munitions to Israel” and affirmed that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
This wave of rhetoric and action in support of Palestinian rights comes on the heels of the majority of Senate Democrats voting for Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) that would have blocked weapons shipments to Israel. In response to these votes, Rep. Robin Kelly, a candidate for the Illinois Senate seat opened up by the upcoming retirement of Sen. Dick Durbin, said she would have joined her Illinois colleagues in voting for the JRDs. In addition, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who missed the JRD vote, clarified that she would have voted to block weapons to Israel had she voted.
These statements, along with the surge in support for the Block the Bombs Act and JRDs, show that Democratic officials are starting to listen to the Democratic base–which has repeatedly demonstrated its support for ending weapons shipments to Israel and opposition to deepening US complicity in Israel’s atrocities.
While statements acknowledging Israel’s atrocities and calling for an end to weapons shipments to Israel are important, Members of Congress should exercise their oversight authority over weapons transfers to take action against sending more weapons to Israel by voting for future JRDs and cosponsoring the Block the Bombs Act.
💡 POLICY ASK: IMEU Policy Project strongly urges all Representatives to cosponsor the historic Block the Bombs Act to ensure that US laws regarding weapons transfers are upheld.
📖 LEARN MORE Check out IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on the need for the Block the Bombs Act.
📣 TAKE ACTION: Write to your Representative and urge them to sign on to the Block the Bombs Act, or thank them for signing on!
⚠️ SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON LEADS TRIP TO ILLEGAL WEST BANK SETTLEMENT
House Speaker Mike Johnson led a group of Republican lawmakers in visits to multiple Israeli settlements in the West Bank–which are illegal under international law–becoming the highest ranking US official to do so. Fellow Republican Reps. Michael McCaul, Nathaniel Moran, Michael Cloud, and Claudia Tenney joined the Speaker on this trip.
While in the settlements, Johnson dined with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who is wanted for possible war crimes by the International Criminal Court, and expressed support for the illegal settlements and Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Johnson also reportedly promised to end the use of the term “West Bank” in line with Israel’s goal of annexation, further emphasizing the purpose of the visit.
This trip is a dangerous endorsement of Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank and comes as Israel aggressively expands them. The visit also comes as Israeli settlers escalate their attacks on Palestinians–according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as of last month there were 757 settler attacks since January. In just the last month, settlers have killed two American citizens during attacks: Khamis Ayyad and Sayfollah Musallet. A settler also killed Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen.
Israel’s settlements are illegal under international law, and just over a year ago the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories–specifically the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza–is illegal and called on Israel to stop settlement activity and end its occupation.
The trip was organized by the US Israel Education Association, a group that is expressly dedicated to bringing Members of Congress to illegal settlements in the West Bank. In an interview, the organization’s founder Heather Johnston stated that she founded the group to facilitate the apocalyptic prophecies espoused by Christian Zionists,which tell of the destruction or conversion of all Jews.
IN THE NEWS
🏫 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: US WEAPONS USED IN STRIKES ON SCHOOLS SHELTERING DISPLACED PALESTINIANS
A new report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed that US-supplied bombs were used in at least two Israeli attacks on schools that were being used as shelters by displaced Palestinians. HRW called Israel’s attacks on the schools “unlawfully indiscriminate” in violation of international humanitarian law.
The attacks investigated by HRW were those on the Khadija girls’ school in Deir al-Balah and the al-Zeitoun C school in Gaza City, both of which were attacked by Israel about one year ago. The report says that GBU-39 small diameter bombs (SDBs), which are made in the US and have been included in many weapons packages announced by the Biden and Trump administrations, were likely used in these attacks based on photographic evidence.
GBU-39 SDBs are one of the many weapons that the Block the Bombs Act would proactively stop the Trump administration from sending to Israel.
This report adds to the mountain of evidence that Israel is using US weapons in possible war crimes and violations of international law in Gaza. Schools and educational facilities are protected under international law, and attacks on them may constitute war crimes. HRW called on the US to impose an arms embargo on Israel and to take other measures to put a stop to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Members of Congress can heed HRW’s call by exercising their oversight authority over weapons transfers and ending weapons deliveries to Israel. Representatives should cosponsor the Block the Bombs Act to prevent the further delivery of the bombs used in these and many other incidents.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🚨 ISRAEL ANNOUNCES PLAN TO VIOLENTLY OCCUPY GAZA, PUSH PALESTINIANS SOUTH
Last Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan for the Israeli military to occupy Gaza City and again displace one million Palestinians who are sheltered there. The approval followed an interview by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he said that Israel intends to violently occupy all of Gaza.
This plan is likely intended to serve as the latest phase of Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign to concentrate Palestinians in the southernmost part of Gaza as a potential prelude to their deportation from their homeland. According to UNRWA, as of July 30 more than 87 percent of Gaza is within Israeli military zones or under displacement orders, leaving Palestinians to shelter in only 12 percent of Gaza’s total area.
This invasion and violent military occupation would further confine Palestinians to smaller parts of Gaza. This violent occupation could also force Palestinians out of northern Gaza entirely–Gaza City is one of the last parts of the area not under displacement orders.
Israeli soldiers indiscriminately kill Palestinians who attempt to return to militarized areas, forcing Palestinians into an impossible choice between staying in those areas or going to overcrowded so-called safe zones that are still attacked by the Israeli military.
The announcement also followed forced displacement orders issued by Israel last Wednesday that instructed Palestinians to leave Gaza City and Khan Younis for the Al Mawasi area of Gaza. This area, which was once called a humanitarian zone by the Israeli military despite its constant attacks there, was once again attacked on the same day the order was issued.
As Israel threatens to violently occupy and displace Palestinians from Gaza City, the Washington Post published photos of the devastation that prior Israeli invasions and bombings have wreaked on Gaza City.
Israeli officers also confirmed in separate interviews that the Israeli military deliberately and systematically destroyed infrastructure in Beit Hanoun, another town in northern Gaza. This mirrors Israel’s total destruction of Rafah, and raises concern that the remaining infrastructure of Gaza City may be Israel’s next target.
✏️ ISRAELI STRIKE ON AL JAZEERA MEDIA TENT KILLS FIVE JOURNALISTS, INCLUDING ANAS AL-SHARIF
In what could be considered an opening salvo in Israel’s plan to violently occupy Gaza City, Israel killed five journalists and two others, including Anas al-Sharif, in a targeted attack on a tent that was serving journalists near al-Shifa Hospital. The other journalists killed in the strike were Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. All of them worked for Al Jazeera.
Al-Sharif was a well-known reporter who was threatened by the Israeli military before he was killed. Just a few weeks ago, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists: “I live with the feeling that I could be bombed and martyred at any moment.” Recently, his reports on Israel’s deliberate and manufactured starvation of Palestinians in Gaza–during which people were collapsing around him–went viral. Up until his last breath, al-Sharif was reporting on Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: In one of his last messages, al-Sharif warned: “The occupation is now openly threatening a full-scale invasion of Gaza. For 22 months, the city has been bleeding under relentless bombardment from land, sea, and air. Tens of thousands have been killed, and hundreds of thousands wounded. If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop. Please share this message and tag everyone who has the power to help end this massacre. Silence is complicity.”
Since Israel began its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, it has killed more than 200 journalists and media workers. Earlier this year, Israel killed Hossam Shabat, another journalist who worked for Al Jazeera, in a targeted attack. Journalists are protected under international law, and the deliberate targeting and killing of them is a war crime.
Photo: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3565/text?s=2&r=1