In Major Milestone, Dozens Of Senators Vote To Block U.S. Weapons To Israel

WASHINGTON ― Large groups of senators on Wednesday voted against selling $700 million in American bombs and rifles to Israel ― sending a major signal from Congress ofU.S. frustration over themass casualties and starvation caused by the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The bills to block the transfers were organized by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and each drew support from more than half of Democrats and their allies in the Senate. Twenty-seven senators voted against the rifle transfer, including Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the Democratic ranking member on the powerful armed services committee, who had never previously voted against weapons for Israel. Twenty-four opposed the shipment of bombs. (Reed and Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island had different positions on the two motions.)

No Republicans supported the effort despite indications that some conservatives want President Donald Trump to be less deferential to Israel.

“Today’s vote was a new high water mark ... It reflects the rising tide among voters against continuing to subsidize and arm Israel’s actions in Gaza and its other grave violations of Palestinian rights,” Ari Tolany of the Center for International Policy, one of several progressive groups backing the legislation, said in a Wednesday night statement.

The vote was the third time Sanders forced the chamber to consider halting weapons for Israel, amid its punishing U.S.-backed offensive in the region over nearly two years. But it notably came amid a new level of international outrage as Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians endure unprecedented hunger because of Israeli aid restrictions. Military and diplomatic support from Washington is crucial for Tel Aviv, and U.S. pressure is widely understood as the most significant factor in potentially altering Israeli policy.

“Everybody in the world knows there’s starvation in Gaza,” Sanders told HuffPost on Wednesday.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) voted for Wednesday’s motion after voting “present” on the previous ones.

“The situation right now in Gaza is such a humanitarian crisis ... we have to speak out. We have to make it clear to this administration that they need to do more,” Baldwin told HuffPost before the vote.

Earlier this week, even Trump acknowledged Palestinians’ desperation, yet the White House issued a statement ahead of the vote rejecting Sanders’ bills.

“This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” Ross Smith of the World Food Programme (WFP) told reporters on Tuesday.

Still, some Democrats didn’t change their position even as they acknowledged the horror of what’s happening in Gaza.

“I’ve made several statements in the last few days about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the urgency of allowing in humanitarian aid. I think my position on the crisis in Gaza is clear, but that’s distinct from voting to block arms sales, in my opinion,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told reporters earlier on Wednesday.

According to the top tracker of global hunger, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, two of the conditions for a declaration of famine have been met in Gaza, but such a declaration is impossible since accurately counting deaths from starvation is impossible. Israel has not allowed international journalists to independently report from the strip since Oct. 7, 2023 ― when its campaign began in response to a brutal attack by Gaza-based militants led by the Palestinian group Hamas ― and aid workers face entry restrictions and little safety amid Israeli airstrikes and offensives.

“The tipping point has already occurred, unfortunately, for a large number of children and infants and toddlers and adolescents… The gut lining has started to auto-digest, and it will no longer have adequate absorptive capacity for water or for nutrition. Death is unfortunately imminent for probably thousands of children,” Mark Brauner, an Oregon-based doctor who volunteered in Gaza last month, recently told HuffPost.

The legislation would have affected 1,000-pound bombs, which Israel has repeatedly used in attacks in Gaza killing civilians and that the Trump administration sought to transfer without normal congressional oversight; and a package of rifles, which national security experts fear the Israeli government will transfer from its police to civilian militias, including violent settlers who regularly kill Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, and which the Biden administration had denied Israel even as it transferred huge amounts of other U.S. weaponry to the country.

Beyond the human rights concerns about that equipment, supporters of the bills also noted that a provision of U.S. law, Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, bars American arms sales to countries interfering with American humanitarian aid efforts, which relief groups receiving U.S. funding like the WFP have said has consistently been the case.

Israel says it works to shield civilians, accusing Hamas of endangering them, and is allowing “minimal humanitarian assistance” into Gaza while respecting international and U.S. law. Several watchdog groups, including Amnesty International and the Israeli organizations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, say Israel’s war policy amounts to one of the most serious international crimes possible: genocide.

When Sanders first forced a vote on blocking arms sales to Israel in November 2024, the measure won support from 19 Democrats and independents, a tally hailed as a sign of progress among critics of U.S.-Israeli policy since it represented nearly a fifth of members of the Senate. It was also the first time the body had ever even considered stopping arms for Israel, a longtime U.S. partner with powerful allies in American politics, and secured significant Democratic support despite stiff resistance from President Joe Biden, a staunch defender of Israel’s Gaza campaign.

In April of this year, only 15 senators supported similar measures from Sanders. Some of those who supported Wednesday’s motions opposed the April effort, like Ossoff and his fellow Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who both face tough re-election campaigns.

The efforts have never been expected to translate into law: Trump and Republicans in Congress have shown no interest in cutting off U.S. support for Israel, so the bills were extremely unlikely to pass, and if they did would almost certainly face a presidential veto. In his first term, Trump vetoed similar legislation against American support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as they waged a devastating military offensive in Yemen. Still, the wellspring of opposition from lawmakers and activists ultimately led Trump to end some of America’s participation in that campaign, and Democrats to almost unanimously disavow the policy, even though it was initiated by President Barack Obama.

“U.S. taxpayers have spent tens of billions of dollars in support of the racist, extremist Netanyahu government,” Sanders said in a written statement before the vote. “Enough is enough. We cannot continue to spend taxpayer money on a government which has killed some 60,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 143,000 — most of whom are women, children and the elderly. We cannot continue supporting a government which has blocked humanitarian aid, caused massive famine and literally starved the people of Gaza.”