Senate vote on arms sale shows ‘massive cracks’ in US support for Israel

This week, a vote in the United States Senate to block military equipment for Israel ended in defeat.

But rights advocates are still hailing the result as an “inflection point” that shows growing frustration with Israel’s far-reaching military campaigns.

Although the bill was defeated on Wednesday by 59 votes in the 100-seat chamber, activists are hailing the 40 votes in favour as a sign of “historic” progress.

Democratic senators overwhelmingly supported the measure, which aimed to stop the sale of military bulldozers to Israel. Only seven crossed party lines to join the Republican majority in sinking the bill.

“While the measure didn’t pass, the vote makes clear that a majority of Senate Democrats now oppose unconditional aid to Israel, aligning with the views of most Americans,” said Hassan el-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a peace advocacy group.

“This was not only a vote about arms sales, but a vote against further escalation, including a wider war with Iran.”

The bill, introduced by progressive Senator Bernie Sanders, came amid growing anger over the conflict with Iran, which US President Donald Trump launched jointly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without congressional authorisation.

Some senators who are usually staunch supporters of Israel — including Adam Schiff, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar — backed the measure on Wednesday.

Israel has been using bulldozers to raze entire towns in Lebanon and Gaza, as part of campaigns that rights advocates say amount to ethnic cleansing.

Dwindling support for Israel

In a separate vote on Wednesday, 36 senators, all Democrats, also supported a bill to block 1,000lbs (450kg) bombs to Israel.

Similar bills to stop arms sales to Israel received 27 “yea” votes last year and 18 in 2024, respectively.

Support for Wednesday’s resolution against the bulldozer sales was more than double the number of senators who opposed the 2024 weapons transfers.

Advocates point to the cumulative effect of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, ongoing destruction of south Lebanon and the now-paused war with Iran as contributing to the political shift.

“That shift reflects where the American people are,” Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Americans, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or independents, want to see our tax money invested in improving lives here at home — not used to kill innocent women and children in the Middle East and put American troops in harm’s way as part of Netanyahu’s illegal wars of expansion.”

A Pew Research Center survey this month suggested that 60 percent of US adults, including 80 percent of Democrats, have unfavourable views of Israel.

Israel is especially unpopular among young people, regardless of party. Pew’s poll found that 70 percent of respondents under age 50 — including 57 percent of Republicans and 84 percent of Democrats — expressed negative views towards Israel.

But Republicans in the Senate, who have rarely broken ranks with Trump, voted unanimously against Sanders’s resolutions on Wednesday.

Republican Senator Rick Scott accused the Democrats who voted in favour of the measure of siding “with terrorism”.

“They blocked CRITICAL arm sales to Israel that would’ve helped our allies confront terrorists who want to see both of our countries destroyed,”  he wrote in a social media post.

“Democrats will do anything to oppose President Trump, even if it means putting AMERICAN lives on the line.”

‘Inflection point’

Beth Miller, the political director at the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action, said it was “shameful” that US lawmakers continue to vote to arm Israel.

“It should be that every single senator is voting to block every single piece of weaponry to Israel at this point — not just because of the genocide in Gaza, but because of the bombardment of Lebanon and the ongoing atrocities that both Israel and the Trump regime are carrying out in Iran,” Miller told Al Jazeera.

Still, she lauded the growing dissent against unconditional aid to Israel, once seen as the default position on Capitol Hill.

In her view, the 40 votes in favour of Wednesday’s resolution “shows massive cracks in the political pillar that upholds the US-Israel alliance”.

“Last night was an inflection point,” Miller said. “It was a moment where senators were forced on record to answer the very simple question: Do you really want to keep arming the Israeli military, yes or no?”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), however, had lobbied against the bill.

“This dangerous effort would undermine Israel’s security and put Israeli families at further risk as our ally faces ongoing terror attacks on multiple fronts,” the influential pro-Israel lobby group said in an email to supporters last week.

The vote came days after J Street, a liberal Zionist group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace, endorsed phasing out US assistance to the Israeli military.

The group welcomed the support for Sanders’s resolution as a sign that senators were increasingly questioning unconditional aid to Israel.

“Today’s vote marks an important step in opposing Netanyahu and Trump’s destructive policies that have devastated the region and done immense harm to Israel’s security and its global standing,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement.

Schumer faces backlash

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, sided with the minority in the caucus in voting against Sanders’s resolution, intensifying criticism of his leadership within the party.

Progressive Congressman Ro Khanna called on Schumer to resign from his role after the vote.

“These bulldozers are used to illegally destroy Palestinian villages,” Khanna said in a video message.

“Mr Schumer, you are out of touch with the base of this party and with your own caucus. Step aside.”

Earlier this week, JVP and other Palestinian rights advocacy groups held a protest outside the offices of Schumer and his fellow New York senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, to urge them to back Sanders’s bill.

But both legislators voted against the measure.

Miller said the vote further demonstrates that Schumer “has no business” being the Democratic leader in the Senate.

“He is wildly out of touch with where the Democratic voter base is. In fact, he is actively doing the opposite of what Democratic voters want him to do,” she said.

Schumer’s office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Miller said activists will continue to pressure Schumer and other lawmakers to stop the flow of weapons to Israel, adding that Wednesday’s tally was the result of years of advocacy.

El-Tayyab also said activists have been writing letters and making phone calls en masse to individual senators to convince them to restrict aid to Israel.

“We’re going to continue pressing Congress to hold more votes and debates on military aid to Israel until its support for Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians, Lebanese civilians and communities across the region comes to an end,” he said.