Sharon Zhang
Truthout / April 3, 2025
The resolutions failed by a larger margin than in similar votes in November, with several Democrats flipping to “no.”
On Thursday, the Senate rejected Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vermont) resolutions to block the sale of $8.8 billion in weapons to Israel by an even wider margin than in similar votes last year — despite Israel having since violated the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The Senate’s opposition to the resolutions comes as Israel has maintained a total humanitarian aid blockade on Gaza for over a month.
Sanders forced votes on two resolutions on Thursday, the first to block the sale of 35,000 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, worth $2 billion, and the second on the sale of tens of thousands of other bombs and JDAMs, worth $6.75 billion.
Both resolutions failed with overwhelming bipartisan opposition, by a vote of 15 in favour and 82 against for the first vote and 83 against for the second. Similar votes on Joint Resolutions of Disapproval brought by Sanders in November, to block $1 billion of tank rounds, mortar rounds, and JDAMs, failed but with smaller margins; several Democrats flipped their votes, despite the sales being pushed by the Trump administration this time around.
Those who backed Sanders’s resolutions were: Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Andy Kim (D-New Jersey), Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico), Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Peter Welch (D-Vermont).
All Republicans voted against the resolutions. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) voted “present” on both resolutions.
Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) and Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) voted “no” on Thursday despite voting for all or some of Sanders’s Joint Resolutions of Disapproval in November.
Ahead of the vote, Sanders said in a speech that the vast Senate support for the arms sales is in large part due to the pro-Israel lobby. He also condemned the sales, saying that it is against both international and domestic law to continue sending Israel weapons — especially after Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire agreement last month while blocking all aid, food, medicine, and otherwise from entering Gaza.
“As bad as the last year and a half has been, at least Israel let some — some, not enough, but some aid through. But what is happening right now is unthinkable,” Sanders said. “Today, it is 31 days and counting with absolutely no humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. Nothing. No food, no water, no medicine, no fuel, for over a month. That is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, the Foreign Assistance Act, and basic human decency. It is a war crime. You don’t starve children.”
“All of this is unconscionable. We are talking about a mass atrocity. And what makes it even worse … is that we, as Americans, are deeply complicit in all that is happening in Gaza,” he said, adding that all of the weapons the resolutions would block “have been linked to illegal airstrikes, including on designated humanitarian sites, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties.”
Human rights experts and advocates for Palestinian rights have strongly condemned the vote, which comes just days after the official death toll of Israel’s genocide exceeded 50,000 — though the true death toll, experts say, is likely far higher.
“We’re witnessing a U.S.-funded genocide, paid for by the billions with our tax dollars,” said Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director for U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action. “U.S. military funding for Israel’s war crimes is not in the interests of the American people and yet our representatives today voted to continue aiding and abetting human rights violations of the Palestinian people.”
Josh Paul, who formerly oversaw arms policy for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said that the failure to advance Sanders’s resolutions would only give Israel more fuel to shirk ceasefire talks.
“If any other country in the world was using American bombs to kill thousands of innocent people — including the greatest loss of life among journalists in history, and the greatest loss of life among U.N. workers since the organization was established — U.S. Senators would be lining up to block such weapons transfers,” Paul said in a statement. “Continued unfettered arms sales to Israel enables gross human rights violations and will keep Israel from coming back to the negotiating table after a broken ceasefire.”
Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) have also introduced companion resolutions to block proposed sales of arms to Israel, but it’s unclear if they plan to force a vote on the legislation in the House.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labour
