The bill is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, but it could test declining support for Israel within the Democratic Party.
Published April 13, 2026
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has tested support for U.S. allies in Congress amid the war with Iran, pledging to advance a resolution to stop bombs and bulldozers against Israel.
Sanders said Monday that he would “force a vote” on the bill later this week. This is a legislative process in which bills are brought to the Senate floor without the approval of the majority party leader.
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“This week, we will force a vote on legislation that would block the sale of nearly $500 million worth of bombs and bulldozers to the Israeli military,” Sanders wrote on X.
“The extremist Netanyahu regime, which has committed genocide in Gaza, does not need any more military support from American taxpayers,” he said, referring to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The resolution is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate, but it will gauge the level of support for Israel among Democrats, who are increasingly angered by the U.S.-Israel war against Iran and ongoing atrocities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Sanders introduced a similar bill last July, but it was defeated 27-70. Still, Palestinian rights advocates said at the time that the tally reflected a decline in pro-Israel bipartisan consensus in Washington.
A majority of Senate Democrats supported the 2025 resolution.
Since then, public support for Israel has continued to plummet, especially among young people and Democrats, according to polls.
A February Gallup poll found that only 46% of Americans had a favorable view of Israel. Only 17% of Democratic respondents said they sympathized more with Israelis than with Palestinians.
During the first two years of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, the United States provided more than $21 billion in military aid to Israel.
Human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip and the war against Iran, which President Donald Trump launched in partnership with Israel without Congressional approval, have increased skepticism in the United States about unconditional support for Israel.
On Monday, J Street, a prominent liberal Zionist group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace, called for the first time for a phase-out of U.S. aid to the Israeli military.
“The war in Gaza, the escalation of extremist Jewish terrorism in the West Bank, and the U.S.-Israel war on Iran have highlighted the need for a fundamental reassessment of the U.S.-Israel security relationship,” the group said in a statement.
J Street also called for U.S. laws restricting security assistance to foreign countries for rights violations to be consistently applied to Israel.
Rights activists argue that successive U.S. administrations have violated the law and overlooked Israeli violations to ensure the continued flow of weapons to Israel.
