In a First, Majority of Democratic Senators Vote To Stop Arming Israel

26 Democrats joined Bernie Sanders in his effort to end certain weapons' sales to Israel - but were blocked by 70 pro-war senators, including every Republican present. Here's how the vote went. The majority of Democratic Senators bucked AIPAC.

Prem Thakker Zeteo
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Bernie Sanders and other senators speak at a press conference aimed at blocking certain offensive weapon sales to Israel in Washington, DC, on Nov. 19, 2024.,Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu // Zeteo

Late Wednesday night, the US Senate once again blocked a Bernie Sanders-led effort to end certain weapons sales to Israel, which is currently starving 2 million Palestinians.

The resolutions, brought by Vermont independent Senator Sanders, and Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Peter Welch (V.T.) called to stop two tranches of weapons sales:

  • Senate Joint Resolution 34 – To prohibit the US-taxpayer financed $675.7 million sale of 201 MK 83 1,000-pound bombs; 4,799 BLU-110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bombs; 1,500 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits for MK 83 bombs; 3,500 JDAM guidance kits for MK 83 bombs; and related logistics and technical support services.

  • Senate Joint Resolution 41 – To prohibit the sale of tens of thousands of fully automatic assault rifles.

All told, twenty-seven senators voted for at least one of the resolutions. Not a single Republican voted for either of the resolutions.

The figure was higher than Sanders’ attempt last year to get his colleagues on the record on arms sales to Israel, when only 19 senators supported at least one of three resolutions at the time. Tonight however, a majority of senators representing the Democratic Party voted in favor of one of the two resolutions marks.

Wednesday’s vote came as famine conditions in Gaza, brought by Israel’s siege, have significantly worsened. At least 154 people in Gaza have died of starvation, a number that has exponentially increased in recent days. Facing growing international pressure, Israel announced so-called "tactical pauses" in fighting in certain areas of Gaza and that it would allow aid drops. But the UN warned earlier Wednesday, "we are still seeing casualties among those seeking aid and more deaths due to hunger and malnutrition.” Israel's severe restrictions on aid continue to significantly impede access.

Gaza medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 75 people, including 63 aid seekers, were killed in Israeli attacks since early Wednesday morning.

While pro-Israel members of Congress have objected to any cutting of aid to Israel on the grounds that they will always support Israel’s “right to defend itself,” Sanders' resolutions only focused on some offensive weapons.
 

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A Palestinian woman and children run to take cover in Gaza City on July 18, 2025.  (Photo by Ahmed Younis/Middle East Images/Agence France-Presse (AFP)  //  Zeteo)

The arms sales in question, Sanders said in a statement, “clearly violate” standards laid out in the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act, which require that recipients of US security assistance facilitate the delivery of US humanitarian aid and not engage in gross violations of human rights, respectively.

“Reliable human rights monitors have documented numerous incidents involving the use of 1,000-pound bombs and JDAMs in illegal strikes leading to unacceptable civilian death tolls. These include strikes in which hundreds of civilians have been killed and strikes on humanitarian facilities, including UN schools,” Sanders noted, adding that the “rifles in question will go to arm a police force overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, who advocates for the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from the region, who has been convicted of support for terrorism by an Israeli court, and who has distributed weapons to violent settlers in the West Bank.”

Sanders noted that Israeli forces and settlers have killed thousands of Palestinians and six Americans in the West Bank in recent years (including earlier this month), and that no one has been held accountable for the killings.

Here are the 27 senators who voted in favor of at least one of the resolutions to block arms sales to Israel:

  • Amy Klobuchar, (D-Minn.)

  • Andy Kim (D-N.J.)

  • Angela Alsobrooks, (D-Md.)

  • Angus King (I-Maine)

  • Ben Ray Luján, (D-N.M.)

  • Bernie Sanders, (I-Vt.)

  • Chris Murphy, (D-Conn.)

  • Chris Van Hollen, (D-Md.)

  • Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.)

  • Elizabeth Warren, (D-Mass.)

  • Ed Markey, (D-Mass.)

  • Jack Reed, (D-R.I.)

  • Jeff Merkley, (D-Ore.)

  • Jeanne Shaheen, (D-N.H.)

  • Jon Ossoff, (D-Ga.)

  • Lisa Blunt Rochester, (D-Del.)

  • Martin Heinrich, (D-N.M.)

  • Mazie Hirono, (D-Hawaii)

  • Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

  • Raphael Warnock, (D-Ga.)

  • Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-R.I.)

  • Tammy Baldwin, (D-Wis.)

  • Tammy Duckworth, (D-Ill.)

  • Tina Smith, (D-Minn.)

  • Peter Welch, (D-Vt.)

  • Brian Schatz, (D-Hawaii)

  • Tim Kaine, (D-Va.)

Here are the names of the 70 senators who voted against S.J.Res.41 that aimed to prohibit the sale of fully automatic assault rifles to Israel and S.J.Res.34 that aimed to block the sales of certain defense articles and services to Israel, within the context of the current genocide.

  • Banks (R-IN)

  • Barrasso (R-WY)

  • Bennet (D-CO)

  • Blackburn (R-TN)

  • Blumenthal (D-CT)

  • Booker (D-NJ)

  • Boozman (R-AR)

  • Britt (R-AL)

  • Budd (R-NC)

  • Cantwell (D-WA)

  • Capito (R-WV)

  • Cassidy (R-LA)

  • Collins (R-ME)

  • Coons (D-DE)

  • Cornyn (R-TX)

  • Cortez Masto (D-NV)

  • Cotton (R-AR)

  • Cramer (R-ND)

  • Crapo (R-ID)

  • Cruz (R-TX)

  • Curtis (R-UT)

  • Daines (R-MT)

  • Ernst (R-IA)

  • Fetterman (D-PA)

  • Fischer (R-NE)

  • Gillibrand (D-NY)

  • Graham (R-SC)

  • Grassley (R-IA)

  • Hagerty (R-TN)

  • Hassan (D-NH)

  • Hawley (R-MO)

  • Hickenlooper (D-CO)

  • Hoeven (R-ND)

  • Husted (R-OH)

  • Hyde-Smith (R-MS)

  • Johnson (R-WI)

  • Justice (R-WV)

  • Kennedy (R-LA)

  • Lankford (R-OK)

  • Lee (R-UT)

  • Lummis (R-WY)

  • Marshall (R-KS)

  • McConnell (R-KY)

  • McCormick (R-PA)

  • Moody (R-FL)

  • Moran (R-KS)

  • Moreno (R-OH)

  • Mullin (R-OK)

  • Murkowski (R-AK)

  • Padilla (D-CA)

  • Paul (R-KY)

  • Peters (D-MI)

  • Ricketts (R-NE)

  • Risch (R-ID)

  • Rosen (D-NV)

  • Rounds (R-SD)

  • Schiff (D-CA)

  • Schmitt (R-MO)

  • Schumer (D-NY)

  • Scott (R-FL)

  • Scott (R-SC)

  • Sheehy (R-MT)

  • Sullivan (R-AK)

  • Thune (R-SD)

  • Tillis (R-NC)

  • Tuberville (R-AL)

  • Warner (D-VA)

  • Wicker (R-MS)

  • Wyden (D-OR)

  • Young (R-IN)

**Senators Gallego and Kelly from Arizona, and Slotkin from Michigan did not vote.

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Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct Senator Kim’s first name and to add Senators King and Murray’s votes.