Record number of Senate Democrats vote to block weapon sales for Israel

A record number of Senate Democrats, more than half the caucus, voted in favor of two resolutions to block U.S. military sales to Israel on Wednesday night. 

While the resolutions ultimately failed, the vote demonstrated how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fractured historically bipartisan support in Congress over the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip in Israel's war against Hamas. 

The resolutions, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), failed in the face of all Republicans voting against the measure and 20 Democrats. 

Senators voted 27 in favor and 70 to defeat Sanders' resolution (S.J.Res.34), which sought to block more than $675 million in weapons sales to Israel. 

A second resolution (S.J.Res. 41) garnered 24 in favor, and 73 against. The resolution sought to prohibit the sale of tens of thousands of fully automatic assault rifles.

"Whatever happens tonight, history will condemn those of us who failed to act in the face of these horrors," Sanders said ahead of the vote. 

It was the third time Sanders put senators on record over their military support for Israel. An April vote garnered 15 Democratic Senators. A vote in November 2024 garnered 18 Democratic senators.  

Democrats framed their opposition to military aid to Israel as a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and not as opposition to Israel as a whole. 

Voting yes for the first time included Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

"This legislative tool is not perfect, but frankly, it is time to say enough to the suffering of innocent young children and families," she said in a statement explaining her vote. 

"As a longtime friend and supporter of Israel, I am voting yes to send a message: the Netanyahu government cannot continue with this strategy. Netanyahu has prolonged this war at every turn to stay in power."

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also voted yes. While she voted in favor of Sanders' November resolution, she voted against his April resolution. 

"I will continue to stand up for the existence of Israel and the safety of its citizens. I will also continue to support Israel's right to defend itself, but I cannot in good conscience vote in support of weapons until the human anguish in Gaza comes to an end," she said in a statement. 

The criticism against Netanyahu matches recent polling on Americans' attitudes toward the Israeli leader. A Gallup poll taken in early July recorded that a majority of Americans disapprove of Netanyahu, at 52 percent, his highest unfavorable rating since 1997.

The poll diverged along party lines. Two-thirds of Republicans, 67 percent, have a favorable view of Netanyahu, compared to 19 percent of independents and nine percent of Democrats.

Those numbers largely reflected Americans' attitudes towards Israel's military action. Support reached an all-time low, with 32 percent of Americans supportive of the war. Among Democrats, there's only eight percent support for Israel's military action, although a large majority of Republicans support the war at 71 percent. 

The Senate vote comes as international outrage is peaking against Israel for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where food crisis experts warned earlier this week that the "worst-case scenario" of famine is occurring, and as deaths from starvation begin to tick up.

While Israel has started allowing more food and humanitarian assistance into the strip after a months-long blockade, the country is becoming increasingly isolated over Netanyahu's failure to signal an endpoint for the war and images of emaciated children and the widespread death in the strip. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday that the U.K. would join France in recognizing an independent Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to end the war. French President Emanuel Macron will formalize its recognition at the United Nations General Assembly in September. 

And President Trump broke with Netanyahu earlier this week in acknowledging that starvation is stalking Palestinians in the Strip. But he has not signaled that he will leverage U.S. military support to achieve a ceasefire.

The administration has pointed to Hamas as the obstacle to a ceasefire deal. The U.S. is proposing a ceasefire that would require Hamas to release at least 20 living hostages and the bodies of 30 others, and that would allow for a scale-up of humanitarian aid into the strip. 

The death toll in Gaza passed a grim milestone this week, with more than 60,000 Palestinians killed since the start of Israel's war against Hamas, launched following Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, where the group killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. 

While the death toll in Gaza does not distinguish between militants and civilians, Israel claims it has killed about 20,000 fighters.