University of Wisconsin-Madison students and community members said talks with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s military legislative assistant Monday offered “no commitment either way” on the Wednesday vote to block weapons sales to Israel.

By Jake Piper, The Daily Cardinal, November 19, 2024

Staff for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin declined to reveal how she would vote on upcoming Senate bills to block $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel, anti-war students said following a Monday meeting at Baldwin’s office.

Students from UW-Madison, Madison Area Technical College and a representative from Jewish Voice for Peace spoke with Baldwin’s military legislative assistant Lucy Perkins in a meeting sponsored by World Beyond War and local organizations. The anti-war activists encouraged Baldwin to sign on to the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) Senate measures which would block a $20 billion weapons sale to Israel after it failed to meet a U.S. deadline to increase aid deliveries into Gaza. 

Event speakers told The Daily Cardinal the measures — introduced by Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, which will be up to a Senate vote on Nov. 20 — are necessary because the U.S. is “complicit” in the deaths of more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza. 

However, UW-Madison student Mia Kurzer called the meeting with Perkins “unhelpful,” saying she offered “no commitment either way on signing the [JRD] bill.”

When asked whether Baldwin would sign the JRD, Perkins said Baldwin’s vote would ultimately support her stance for a ceasefire no matter which way she voted, a representative for World Beyond War who attended the meeting told the Cardinal. 

Sharon Lezberg, a representative from the Madison chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, said the U.S. was “complicit in human rights violations” as a result of the over $12.5 billion in preliminary aid provided to Israel in 2024.

“Through these arms sales, we are directly responsible for the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, of whom an estimated 70% are women and children,” Lezberg said.

Mark Bauman, a representative with Madison Mennonite Church, urged a war tax resistance, which can encompass both illegal and legal means of protest. These can include everything from refusing to file a tax return to sending a letter of protest with the tax form.

“My taxes have been used for supporting a war that I don’t I can’t agree with. So, personally, that’s the one option that’s left for me,” Bauman said.

Though some members were not pleased with the outcome of the talks, Kurzer said she was proud of what the organization had accomplished. 

“I think it is so important to get our voices out there, even if it does nothing, I think it’s much better to try,” Kurzer said. “At least then you can say, ‘I did all I could to try to stop it.’”