A record number of senators voted on Wednesday in favor of halting U.S. military equipment sales to the Zionist regime on Israel, but the resolution ultimately failed by a wide margin—though it highlighted growing dissent. The measure introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders was supported by 27 Democratic senators and opposed by 70 senators—including all Republicans and 17 Democrats. This marks a shift from recent votes on similar measures, where most Democrats consistently backed arms sales.

RELATED: EU Sanctions Against Israel Stall Amid Divisions Over Gaza Crisis

Sanders acknowledged the outcome on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “By a vote of 27-17, Senate Democrats voted to stop sending arms shipments to a Netanyahu government which has waged a horrific, immoral and illegal war against the Palestinian people.”

“The tide is turning,” he added, noting that Americans oppose spending “billions to starve the children of Gaza.”

As reflected on the United States Congress website, this vote was intended to decide whether or not to prohibit “the U.S.-taxpayer-financed $675.7 million sale of 201 MK 83 1,000-pound bombs; 4,799 BLU-110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bombs; 1,500 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits for MK 83 bombs; 3,500 JDAM guidance kits for MK 83 bombs; and related logistics and technical support services.”

A second resolution, which sought to block the sale of tens of thousands of assault rifles, also failed, with 73 senators voting against it and 24 in favor.

According to a press release on Sanders’ webpage “the arms sales in question clearly violate the criteria laid out in the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act. Reliable human rights monitors have documented numerous incidents involving the use of 1,000-pound bombs and JDAMs in illegal strikes leading to unacceptable civilian death tolls (…) The rifles in question will go to arm a police force overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, who advocates for the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from the region, who has been convicted of support for terrorism by an Israeli court, and who has distributed weapons to violent settlers in the West Bank. Israeli security forces and settler extremists have killed thousands of Palestinians and six Americans in the West Bank in recent years, including earlier this month. No one has been held accountable for these deaths.”

IN THIS ARTICLE