The US Senate has voted against two resolutions blocking American arms sales to Israel put forward by independent lawmaker Bernie Sanders.
The resolutions received support from some 75% of Democrats during the votes on Wednesday, but still failed to pass as the Republicans almost unanimously rejected them.
Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, was looking to stop the $295 million sale of bulldozers and the $151.8 million sale of 12,000 general purpose 1,000-pound ‘dumb’ bombs to West Jerusalem.
Both resolutions ended up being voted down by 59 to 40 and 63 to 36, respectively.
In previous years, arms sales to Israel enjoyed strong bipartisan backing, but Democrats have begun to shift their stance since West Jerusalem began its military operation in Gaza in response to the deadly October 7, 2023 incursion by Palestinian armed group Hamas.
Before the vote, Sanders argued that the deals didn’t fit the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act as Israel has been striking Gaza and Lebanon with American bombs and using bulldozers to demolish Palestinian and Lebanese homes.
Despite the failure of his resolutions, the Vermont senator later expressed satisfaction over the fact that “Democrats are beginning to listen to the average American who is sick and tired of spending billions of dollars to support [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu’s horrific wars when people in this country can’t afford housing or health care.”
The Republicans claimed that blocking weapons deliveries to the Jewish state could harm the US in the conflict with Iran, which Washington and West Jerusalem attacked jointly on February 28. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch warned that this could embolden Tehran and “send the message that the US is prepared to leave our ally Israel vulnerable.”
More than 72,000 people have been killed and over 172,000 others injured in the Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past three years, figures from Palestinian health authorities suggest.
In early March, Israel also launched an invasion of neighboring Lebanon, which so far has led to the deaths of more than 2,100 civilians, according to the government in Beirut.