19 Senators back limiting offensive weapons to Israel in key vote

The Senate on Wednesday failed to pass three resolutions that would have limited offensive arms to Israel, but 19 senators supported the initiative, showing there is growing resistance to the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza.

The 19 senators who voted to block some offensive arms sales was higher than the 11 who joined a similar effort in January that was focused on conditioning weapons to Israel.

The resolutions Wednesday were introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has led calls on Capitol Hill to end unconditional arms support for Israel, along with Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

Besides those lawmakers, several other Democrats, including Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), were expected to vote for the resolutions.

Though the resolutions were expected to fail, they also served as a symbolic message supporting restraining Israel in the Senate.

The Wednesday vote comes as President-elect Trump is set to take office in January and is expected to more closely embrace Israel.

Democrats, led by the Biden administration, have largely rallied around Israel throughout the war, although President Biden and the party have called for more aid to get into Gaza and for the Israeli military to limit civilian deaths throughout the 13-month war.

The White House came out publicly against the resolutions before the vote.

"We strongly oppose this resolution and we have made our position clear to interested Senators," said a spokesperson with the White House National Security Council.

The Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, Congress' formal mechanism to limit arms transfers, would have prohibited the U.S. from providing future transfers of 120mm tank rounds, 120mm High Explosive mortar rounds and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), which are guidance kits attached to bombs.

Both the House and Senate have to pass the resolutions to block a transfer. The resolution on tank rounds saw 18 votes in favor, the resolution on mortar rounds saw 19 votes in support and the resolution on JDAMs earned 17 votes.

Sanders in September also introduced three other joint resolutions that would block JDAM receivers, certain tactical vehicles and the sale of 50 new F-15IA aircraft and associated parts. Those did not come up for a vote on Wednesday.

Sanders led a major public campaign ahead of the vote, writing a Washington Post opinion piece that said Israel has violated the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act because the Israeli military has violated international human rights.

The senator also pointed to Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the transfer of arms to a country inhibiting U.S. humanitarian assistance efforts. The U.S. has been working to get aid into Gaza, where Palestinians are struggling to access food and water.

In his opinion piece, Sanders pointed to the widespread destruction in Gaza, including on housing and universities, and the roughly two million who have been displaced. Pushing back against critics who say restraining Israel would only bolster Iran, which backs Hamas, Sanders said, "You do not effectively combat terrorism by starving thousands of innocent children."

"Because of its immoral actions, Israel is less secure and increasingly isolated," Sanders wrote. "Israel, like any other nation, has a right to defend itself, and these resolutions will not endanger that defense. Instead, they specifically target offensive weapons that are responsible for thousands of civilian deaths."

Sanders elaborated on his position in a press conference Tuesday, arguing that the U.S. is "complicit in these atrocities" in Gaza.

"That complicity must end," said Sanders, who has accused U.S. officials, senators and congressmembers of being hypocrites for speaking about human rights issues worldwide while ignoring the suffering in Gaza.

Merkley told reporters Tuesday he has long supported Israel but raised concerns about indiscriminate bombing in Gaza that was "out of sync with our values."

"Even when we have an ally, even when there is a country that has been a close friend, [if that nation] engages in egregious, devastating practices that harm civilians in such a massive way, [then] we stand up and say this is wrong," he said.

Van Hollen also spoke at the conference, arguing the war has created immense suffering in Gaza and that Israel should not have a blank check.

"That's why we need to use the recourse we have to pause U.S. offensive military assistance," Van Hollen said, until Israel "finally comes into compliance and begins to listen to the priorities of the United States."

But many Democrats disagreed.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement before the vote that Israel "continues to face active and deadly threats" from "adversaries who also threaten U.S. interests."

"Our support for Israel does not diminish our commitment to humanitarian assistance for innocent Palestinians or our shared pursuit of peace," Cardin said. "While addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and advocating for peace, we also must uphold our country's longstanding bipartisan commitment to Israel."

On the Senate floor, Cardin said the resolutions made little sense because they deal with arms transfers in the future and that limiting JDAMs, which offer precision strikes, would actually make Israel's attacks more dangerous. Sanders has argued that Israel is using JDAMs to target densely populated areas.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said the resolutions offered Wednesday "would not only hurt Israel's ability to defend itself against these attacks, they would embolden Iran."

"Your decision whether or not to help Israel defend itself and cannot be a political one," she said on the Senate floor. "Government leaders and politicians, well, they come and go, but our commitment to Israel's security must be ironclad and unrestricted."

Nationally, Democrats have fractured on supporting Israel, with many progressives, Arab-Americans and young voters in the party sympathizing with the plight of the Palestinian people, while center and traditional members back Israel. Many of the Arab-American and progressive community voted against Vice President Harris in a protest vote on Election Day.

Democrats have mostly tailored their criticism. Biden has been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without taking any concrete action against Israel. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also made a dramatic speech over the spring that largely focused on disparaging Netanyahu.

On Wednesday, Schumer said he was against the resolution because it could embolden Hamas and Iran and "endanger Israel's security into the future."

"I've also made clear that Israel must do more to reduce the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza and do much more to get humanitarian aid to where it is urgently needed," he said on the Senate floor. "However, our security assistance to Israel transcends any one prime minister or any one government."

The Wednesday Senate vote came on the same day that the U.S. vetoed a resolution in the United Nations Security Council that called for an unconditional and immediate end to the war in Gaza.

Despite pressure from Biden, Israel's operations have only grown deadlier and human rights groups and the United Nations say it is destructive and in potential violation of international humanitarian law. Over the spring, the State Department said in a report it was "reasonable to assess" Israel has violated international law.

Earlier this month, the U.S. said it would not limit arms sales to Israel despite concerns that more could be done to get aid into Gaza. The Biden administration had previously set a deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation.

More than 43,000 Palestinians have died in the war, of which the United Nations says nearly 70 percent are women and children. The war started when Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

But Netanyahu has remained adamant that the war must continue and that his nation should not give in to Hamas, which has been severely degraded in the war.

Netanyahu has been accused of prolonging the war for his political survival instead of reaching a deal that would free the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza in return for a ceasefire. He fired his own defense minister earlier this month, Yoav Gallant, who claimed he was dismissed in part because he said Hamas was degraded and Israel could live with a hostage and ceasefire deal.

The U.S. has primarily pointed the finger at Hamas, blaming the militant group for not reaching a ceasefire deal.

Biden has only ever held up one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, out of concern for their use in densely populated areas in Gaza. Human rights groups have criticized Israel for using heavy bombs to target crowded locations in the besieged territory.

A recent analysis found the U.S. has sent some $18 billion to support Israeli military operations in the war through September.