- Well, constituents and critics alike are calling attention to a key vote that took place in the U.S. Senate just before members left for summer recess, where New Jersey's senior U.S.

Senator Cory Booker voted to approve a massive U.S. weapons sale to Israel amid an ongoing war in Gaza that aid groups are calling a full-blown humanitarian crisis and a global debate about starvation, genocide, and accountability.

Booker's votes are in sharp contrast to his fellow New Jersey Senator Andy Kim, who's moved to block similar U.S. arms transfers and has spoken out about the dire circumstances Palestinians are facing.

Our Washington, D.C. correspondent Ben Hulak has been covering the votes closely and joins me now with the latest.

Ben, hey, it's good to see you.

I know folks have been on break for recess, so we appreciate you being here.

Let's just start with the vote itself.

What exactly did Senator Booker approve and how important are these weapons in the context of this war in Gaza?

- Right, as you explained, this is an interesting comparison between the two men, Senators Booker and Kim.

So last week, the Senate voted on actually two resolutions that would have blocked two separate batches of weapons.

One was largely assault rifles, 20,000 assault rifles that would go to Israeli police.

And then the second vote would have blocked a variety of bombs, a couple of types of bombs, thousand pound bombs going to the region, going to Israel itself rather.

These fit a pattern.

In my reporting that ran today, that was published today, I looked at seven separate votes that the Congress has taken to block these weapons sales since the war in Gaza and the broader region began about two years ago.

So just sort of interesting book-ended comparison between the two men.

- Yeah, I mean, as you reported, Booker has defended this vote, other votes, saying that blocking these sales would essentially limit US options for bringing the war to an end.

Is it sort of as he sees it, this broader humanitarian diplomatic strategy?

Is that a fair argument to be made?

- I would defer to the foreign policy experts on that, but just from my perch on Capitol Hill, Booker's, that is the argument that Senator Booker will make and many Democrats will make, which is this is, Israel is a steadfast ally, has been for decades, and we need to use all points of leverage that we can.

I'm speaking sort of as a general Democrat, but this is not the way to go about it.

And I had an interesting conversation with Senator Kim last week after these votes, and he's taken a lot of criticism for voting to block these weapons sales.

But his point was, we've tried so much.

He said in Israel earlier this year, he met with Netanyahu face-to-face and has tried to convey to the Israeli leader there that humanitarian crisis has to come to an end.

Senator Kim, I should point out, is still in the minority, even of his own party, in voting to block these weapons sales, which also would have had to have gone through the House to ultimately block these deals.

But it's an interesting study in contrast, as I've said.

- Would Kim go so far as to say that a genocide is happening, which few but other members of Congress have claimed?

- I asked him that direct question, and he said no, but it was sort of an equivocating no.

Basically, he hasn't done the research to bear that out.

He does come from an academic background.

He worked at the State Department during the Obama administration, and actually has written and studied and examined mass atrocities and genocide.

His answer to me was, that's really a legal determination.

But I did ask him a follow-up, which is, what about war crimes?

And he said, almost certainly.

Highly likely, I think, were his words.

Are war crimes being committed in Gaza?

And I asked about starvation, which is a war crime under international law.

And his point was, there are food trucks waiting to go into Gaza.

We can see them, we can see the images, we can see them from satellite data.

And shots from above, yes, war crimes, in his eyes, are almost certainly happening.

- All right, Ben Hulak, you can follow all of his reporting, including on this story, on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Ben, thanks so much.

- Of course.

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