Record number of Senate Democrats vote to block US weapons sales to Israel
The senators joining the vote included several who had not previously voted against such sales
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who caucuses with Democrats, argues for increased oversight of assistance to Israel, in the U.S. Senate, Jan. 15, 2024. Screenshot of U.S. Senate
(JTA) — A record number of Senate Democrats, representing a majority of the caucus, voted in favor Wednesday of two resolutions blocking U.S. military sales to Israel.
The vote tally, including several senators who had not previously voted against such aid, underscores an apparent decline in support for Israel within the party.
The vote comes as Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, and amid a humanitarian crisis in the enclave that is drawing widespread condemnation.
The resolutions were sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Jewish Vermont Independent who has long been critical of U.S. aid for Israel. Twenty-seven Senate Democrats voted for at least one of them.
The first, which was defeated 27-70, sought to block the sale of tens of thousands of assault rifles which would potentially be used by police units controlled by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The second resolution, which would have blocked the sale of $675.7 million of bombs and other materials to Israel, was defeated 24-73.
Eight of the senators who voted for at least one of the resolutions had not supported past efforts to cut off aid to Israel. They were Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island; Patty Murray of Washington; Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware; Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin; Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Tammy Duckworth of Illinois; and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.
“The tide is turning,” Sanders said in a statement. “The American people do not want to spend billions to starve children in Gaza. The Democrats are moving forward on this issue, and I look forward to Republican support in the near future.”
A recent poll found that among Democratic voters, just 8% now say they approve of Israel’s war in Gaza, a share that has fallen by 28 points since the beginning of the war.
The decline is starker among young Democrats. Last week, the Young Democrats of America, the youth wing of the Democratic Party, narrowly passed an amendment to its foreign policy plank opposing the “Israeli government’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
On Tuesday, 40 Senate Democrats representing nearly all of the caucus — including two prominent Jewish senators, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Adam Schiff of California — sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff urging them to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, citing the increasing number of “deaths due to starvation, especially among children.”
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