The US Senate did not cut off arms to Israel on Wednesday. But the vote still mattered—and not because Bernie Sanders won. He didn’t.
It mattered because the numbers tell a larger story: Israel is becoming steadily more partisan in American politics, as Democrats move closer to the instincts and priorities of their party’s far-left wing.
Two resolutions led by Sanders sought to block arms sales to Israel, including bulldozers and bombs intended for the IDF. Both failed. But they failed by much narrower margins than similar efforts in the past.
Forty senators—all Democrats—voted to advance the resolution blocking the bulldozer sale. Thirty-six of them also voted to block the bomb sale. In other words, opposition to arming Israel is no longer confined to a theatrical fringe made up of the so-called “Squad.” It is becoming a recognizable position inside the Democratic mainstream.
Only seven Democratic senators voted against both measures: Richard Blumenthal, Chris Coons, Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman, Kirstin Gillibrand, Jackie Rosen and Chuck Schumer (who ironically is the senator President Donald Trump most associates with the “Palestinian cause”).
A smaller group—Gary Peters, Jack Reed, Mark Warner and Sheldon Whitehouse—split their votes, backing the effort to block the bulldozer sale while opposing the attempt to halt the bomb sale.
Republicans, by contrast, voted in lockstep against both resolutions. The measure targeting bulldozers failed 40–59. The measure targeting bombs failed 36–63.
So yes, the resolutions were defeated. But the strategic signal is hard to miss.
Not long ago, Sanders’ anti-Israel arms resolutions were brushed aside by overwhelming margins. In April 2025, only 15 senators—all Democrats—voted to block arms sales to Israel. In July, 27 Democrats voted against a sale of small arms to Israeli police, and 24 voted against a bomb sale.
But now those numbers have increased significantly.
This is how partisan realignment works. Not all at once. Not with a dramatic rupture. Just a steady ratchet in one direction, as yesterday’s fringe position becomes today’s moral posture and tomorrow’s party orthodoxy.
And on Israel, that ratchet is turning almost entirely on one side of the aisle.
For years, American support for Israel was treated as one of the few foreign policy questions that still transcended party lines. That consensus is weakening. What replaced it is something colder, more ideological, and far less stable: a Democratic Party increasingly willing to treat Israel not as an ally under siege, but as a moral problem to be managed—or restrained.
The vote did not stop the arms transfers. But it did expose the trajectory.
The far left sets the tone. The party moves a little closer. And Israel is increasingly abandoned.
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