CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Senate Vote on the D9 Bulldozers

D9 Bulldozer, image Wikipedia.

Like many people in the U.S. Left, I closely watched the U.S. Senate vote to block the transfer of 1,000-pound bombs and military equipment to Israel last Wednesday. Spearheaded by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders the joint resolution “provid[ed] for congressional disapproval of the proposed foreign military sale to the government of Israel of certain defense articles and services.” The vote was split into two parts: the first focused on the D9 military bulldozers and the second on 1,000-pound bombs.

Though the resolution on the D9 bulldozers failed by a vote of 59 to 40, it was notable the large number of Democratic Senators that voted for it, nearly 80% of them. Yet, the crucial seven votes that killed it also came from the Democratic side of the aisle. Time magazine reported:

The seven Democrat Senators who voted against the measure were Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Chris Coons of Delaware, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

I was especially keen to see the vote and hear the debate on the D9 armored bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar in East Peoria, Illinois and represented by the UAW. According to the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the sales of D9 armored bulldozers is worth $295 million. The D9 bulldozers have a deadly and notorious history. As the ADC makes clear:

“Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers, machinery long used by Israel for home demolitions and forced displacement. These weapons and machines destroy the very foundations of life by destroying homes and shelter, uprooting communities, blocking return, and deepening permanent dispossession.”

The D9s gained some notoriety in the United States two decades ago when American Palestine solidarity activist Rachel........

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