Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) questions Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on ‘Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy,’ in Washington, DC, July 10, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Erin Scott.

i24 News – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a group of progressive lawmakers in the US House of Representatives to introduce a resolution to block a $735 million arms sale to Israel on Wednesday.

She was joined by Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan and Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is of Palestinian background.

“The United States should not be rubber-stamping weapons sales to the Israeli government as they deploy our resources to target international media outlets, schools, hospitals, humanitarian missions, and civilian sites for bombing. We have a responsibility to protect human rights,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted

US President Joe Biden told Israel on Wednesday he expected a “significant de-escalation” in its operation against terrorists from the Gaza Strip.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, with a dozen killed in Israel from the rocket fire. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts most incoming projectiles from Gaza.

“At a time when so many, including President Biden, support a ceasefire, we should not be sending ‘direct attack’ weaponry to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu to prolong this violence,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.

“The harsh truth is that these weapons are being sold by the United States to Israel with the clear understanding that the vast majority of them will be used to bomb Gaza,” said Tlaib.

The White House notified Congress of precision-guided missiles to be sold to Israel on May 5 to little comment. Only after Operation Guardian of the Wall began as rockets were fired toward Israel civilians starting on May 10 did it come to the wider attention of Congress.