From the Liveblog of
Thursday, April 16, 2026
US Senate nixes effort to halt arms sales to Israel, but 80% of Dems vote to block them
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The US Senate has voted down a pair of resolutions to prevent weapons sales to Israel, but the vast majority of Democrats joined the minority, demonstrating a major shift in the party’s approach toward Israel.
Forty out of 47 Senate Democrats voted in favor of one of the resolutions to block a $295 million sale of bulldozers, which the initiative’s author Sen. Bernie Sanders said would be used to demolish homes in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. Fifty-nine senators — mostly Republicans — voted against blocking the sale.
Thirty-six Democrats backed another resolution aimed at blocking a $152 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs to the IDF, which Sanders said would be used in Gaza and Lebanon. Sixty-three senators voted against blocking the sale.
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 military operations in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon as well as a stepped-up campaign by party activists who have increasingly viewed criticism of Israel as a litmus test for earning their support.
AP contributed to this report.
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