Senate Nixes Effort to Halt Arms Sales 04/16 06:04

   More than three dozen Democrats supported an effort by Vermont Sen. Bernie 
Sanders on Wednesday to block arms sales to Israel, signaling a growing 
discontent in the party with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wars in 
Gaza and Iran.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than three dozen Democrats supported an effort by 
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday to block arms sales to Israel, 
signaling a growing discontent in the party with Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu and the wars in Gaza and Iran.

   The two resolutions to block U.S. sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel 
were opposed by all Republicans and rejected 40-59 and 36-63. But Sanders has 
repeatedly forced votes on the issue to put pressure on his colleagues -- both 
Democrats and Republicans -- to oppose Netanyahu's regime.

   Similar resolutions forced by Sanders in 2024 and 2025 were also rejected, 
but the number of Democrats voting with the Vermont Independent has more than 
doubled in less than two years amid Israeli campaigns in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon 
and a stepped-up campaign by party activists who have increasingly seen support 
for Israel as a litmus test for support.

   "It's clear that Democrats are beginning to listen to the average American 
who is sick and tired of spending billions of dollars to support Netanyahu's 
horrific wars when people in this country can't afford housing or health care," 
Sanders said after the vote.

   Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., voted in support of the two resolutions 
after opposing some of Sanders' previous efforts. In a speech just before the 
vote, Kelly said that "the reckless decisions being made by Prime Minister 
Netanyahu and President Trump" led him to his decision, which he said he did 
not take lightly.

   "Under Prime Minister Netanyahu's government, we've seen an expanded war in 
Lebanon that is putting innocent Lebanese civilians at risk, and ongoing 
violence against Palestinians and their homes being demolished in the West 
Bank," Kelly said. "All of this has undermined the path forward for peace."

   Among the Democrats voting against the resolutions were Senate Minority 
Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Nearly 100 protesters were 
arrested during a demonstration on Monday calling on the two New York senators 
to vote in favor of Sanders' two measures.

   Led by the antiwar group Jewish Voice for Peace, the crowd of hundreds 
initially attempted to stage a sit-in inside the senators' offices as they said 
they were abetting Israel's intensifying attacks in Lebanon and the 
U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. But they were blocked and many of the protesters were 
arrested.

   "The majority of Americans and New Yorkers want a resolution to what the 
Israeli government is doing," said the group's communications director, Sonya 
Meyerson-Knox.

   Democrats supported a resolution earlier on Wednesday to halt Trump's war in 
Iran, though that was also rejected, 47-52. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a 
Democrat who voted against Sanders' Israel resolutions, said he voted to end 
the Iran war but did not want to abandon Israel.

   "My votes should be taken neither as an endorsement of the actions of the 
Netanyahu government nor as an abandonment of the state of Israel, the Jewish 
people, or the US-Israel relationship," Coons said in a statement after the 
vote.

   Republicans said the vote could hurt U.S. efforts in the Iran war.

   Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said the 
resolutions could embolden Iran and "send the message that the U.S. is prepared 
to leave our ally Israel vulnerable."

   "They will not help the United States of America," Risch said ahead of the 
vote.