The Senate will vote Tuesday night on a resolution directing the Department of State to issue a report on Israel’s war effort at Gaza. The man leading the effort, Senator Sanders, also has called on Congress to condition American military aid to the Jewish state. If the bill passes, the state department would be required to submit its report to Congress within 30 days.

Mr. Sanders is invoking the Foreign Assistance Act to introduce the resolution. It allows Congress to direct the state department to evaluate the impact of American aid programs on certain populations. The Vermonter says Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government has been heavy-handed in its war effort. His legislation “would require the State Department to provide any credible information on potential human rights violations in the Israeli campaign,” according to a press release from his office. 

“The concern that I have is not that Israel does not have the right to defend itself against Hamas — they do have that right,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview with Punchbowl News. “The concern that I have is that we are now going to war against the Palestinian people in general.”

Speaking on the Senate floor on January 10, Mr. Sanders said that this is a justifiable invocation of America’s oversight powers. “It’s no secret that we have long been very supportive of Israel, providing billions of dollars a year in military aid for many years,” he said. But, he added, “There is extensive evidence showing that it has been — far and away — the most intensive bombing campaign of the 21st century.”

“There is no question that Israel has the right to defend itself and respond against the perpetrators of that attack,” he continued. “But while it is clear that Israel has the right to go to war against Hamas. It does not have the right to go to war against the Palestinian people and innocent men, women, and children in Gaza.”

The White House has come out against Mr. Sanders’s proposal, saying that it is neither the right time nor the right method to address concerns about civilian casualties. “We do not believe that this resolution is the right vehicle to address these issues,” the National Security Council spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, said. “And we don’t think now is the right time.”

“The Israelis have indicated that they are preparing to transition their operations to a much lower intensity, and we believe that that transition will be helpful both in terms of reducing civilian casualties as well as increasing humanitarian assistance,” he continued.

Mr. Sanders responded to Mr. Kirby during an interview with CNN. “We have got to — as Americans — take a very deep breath,” he said. “What is going on in Gaza right now is a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe. … Two-thirds of the people who have been killed have been women and children.”

The Vermont senator, who is arguably the most famous Jewish American politician, received pushback from his fellow liberals in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack because he failed to immediately call for a cease-fire, like some House members did within days of the killing of Israeli civilians in the southern part of the country. 

He explained in November why he said a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was unlikely to be effective in the long term. “I don’t know how you can have a cease-fire — permanent cease-fire — with an organization like Hamas, which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel,” he told CNN. 

He has called for freezing military aid to Israel because, he says, Mr. Netanyahu’s “right-wing government” could not be trusted to avoid using the materiel for unjust purposes. 

“The Netanyahu government’s current military approach is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the United States must end our complicity in those actions,” he said. “This money would allow for the continuation of the Netanyahu government’s widespread, indiscriminate bombardment. Therefore, I ask that you withdraw your support for that portion of the funding requested from Congress.”

A leading Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Coons, says he will vote against the resolution because it is not the appropriate time. “I am opposed to the Sanders resolution that would require the U.S. State Department — in 30 days — to produce a comprehensive review of Israel’s actions since 2018 and directly put at risk ongoing U.S. support for Israel while they are at war with Hamas,” Mr. Coons said in a statement. 

He says that adopting such a resolution is akin to “publicly rebuking Israel in a way that could embolden its enemies.”