UPDATE 7/30 10:15 P.M.: The Senate rejected the motions to discharge S.J.Res.34 and S.J.Res.41 from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for immediate consideration on the Senate floor, voting 24-73 and 27-70 respectively.
Although these resolutions failed, they received more votes to discharge than previous resolutions to block arms sales to Israel. The Senate overwhelmingly rejected two other Sanders-led resolutions to block weapons to Israel back in April, voting against S.J. Res. 33 in a 15-82 vote and against S.J. Res. 26 in a 15-83 vote.
As hunger mounts in the Gaza Strip because of Israel’s war and repeated blocks of aid to it, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is mounting a new effort to block U.S. arms to Israel.
First, Sanders is forcing a vote in the Senate on July 30th to discharge two resolutions to block arms sales to Israel, S.J.Res.34 and S.J.Res.41, from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. S.J. Res.34 blocks the sale of some bombs and some of the logistics and technical support services related to them, and S.J.Res.41 blocks sales of tens of thousands of automatic rifles, to Israel.
“The time is long overdue for Congress to use the leverage we have — tens of billions in arms and military aid — to demand that Israel end these atrocities," Sen. Sanders said in a statement about the vote.
On Monday, Sanders also introduced another joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval of exporting some weapons assistance to Israel.
No text of that resolution is available of yet, but Sen. Sanders' office told RS the Joint Resolution aims to block the sale of thousands of fully-automatic assault rifles (Transmittal No. DDTC 23–066), to police forces overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's Minister of National Security, who has been distributing weapons to settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The legislation, S.J.Res.70, was referred yesterday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, though it is unclear when it will be considered there.
In a statement to RS about S.J.Res.70, Sanders' office said that the U.S. should not send Israeli security forces more arms.
"Extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has long advocated for the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from the region, has been convicted by an Israeli court of racist incitement and supporting the Kahanist terror organization, and has been distributing weapons to violent settlers in the West Bank," Sanders' office told RS.
"At a time when Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians trying to get food aid on a near-daily basis, the United States should not be providing more weapons to Israeli security forces."
Lawmakers appear to be responding more actively to Gaza's humanitarian crisis, and of reports of starvation on the ground there. On Sunday, Democrats signed a letter to the State Department calling for the closure of the Global Humanitarian Fund, which has been accused of “blurring the lines between delivery of aid and security operations.” Over a thousand Palestinians have been killed trying to get food at or near GHF distribution centers. The Senators asked that humanitarian aid delivery be returned to the UN in the Gaza Strip.
Sen. Sanders has previously introduced similar joint resolutions of disapproval to block the sale or export of weapons to Israel. These have failed to pass. An amendment by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to the 2026 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, which would have withheld additional military assistance to Israel, also failed earlier this month.
This is a developing story that has been updated.
Top photo credit: Ngô Đình Diệm after being shot and killed in the 1963 coup (US National Archives) 
