Amid all the dysfunction and paralysis on Capitol Hill, an important foreign policy change is taking place among Senate Democrats. On April 15, 2026, the United States Senate considered two resolutions to block nearly $450 million of arms sales to Israel over concerns about human rights violations and the US-Israel war on Iran. With pro-Israel Republicans controlling the Senate, the defeat of these resolutions, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), was predictable. Indeed, the first resolution, to stop a $295 million sale of bulldozers that Israel has used in the past to destroy civilian homes, lost in a 59-40 vote; the second, to halt a $151 million sale of 12,000 1,000-pound bombs, failed 63-36. The surprise was that more than three-quarters of the 47-member Democratic caucus voted to halt at least one of the sales—an unprecedented number.
These votes reflect the continuing erosion of Democrats’ once-sacrosanct position of unconditional support for Israel. More Democratic politicians are questioning the party’s traditional platform, given many voters’ outrage over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Iran, their discomfort with the country’s right-wing drift, and their distaste for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unabashedly partisan, pro-Donald Trump stance. The mounting skepticism of longtime policy toward Israel is widening the party’s divide over the Gaza war that earlier contributed to Trump’s 2024 victory. In the November 2026 congressional elections, however, Israel-skeptic candidates may help the party win back some voters.
Scrutinizing (Some) Arms to Israel
The April 2026 Senate votes built on years of efforts by Sanders to block the sale of certain weapons to Israel ( which nevertheless represent only a small portion of overall US weapons transfers to the country) over concerns about their use in civilian harm in violation of US law. In May 2021, during an intense Israeli attack on Gaza, he first introduced “Joint Resolutions of Disapproval” (JRDs), aiming to force a full Senate vote on $735 million in arms deliveries that the Joe Biden administration wanted to expedite. Sanders was outraged that “US-made bombs [were] devastating Gaza, and killing women and children.” At the time, Democrats—who had just taken back the White House and the Senate—were in no mood to challenge the famously pro-Israel President Biden. Sanders, a progressive independent who caucuses with Democrats, was seen as a gadfly on this issue. Reflecting the Senate Democratic leadership’s pro-Israel orthodoxy, these first JRDs did not get a floor vote.
Sanders introduced further resolutions in 2024 and 2025, which were voted upon and defeated. Each time, however, a few more Democrats joined Sanders, as indignation grew over Israel’s conduct in its post-October 7 Gaza war and the uninterrupted flow of US funding for it. By July 2025, Sanders’s resolution to prohibit the sale of 1,000-pound bombs secured what was then a record 24 yes votes.
Today, Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other diehard pro-Israel lawmakers like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) continue to oppose restrictions on arms for Israel. But in the April 2026 votes, a remarkable 13 centrist Democrats flipped to join Sanders, with some explaining that they were standing up against the unpopular US-Israel war on Iran that Congress had not authorized. Perhaps the most notable new yes votes came from the vocally pro-Israel Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), who has never before sought to deny weapons for the country. Along with Booker, two other April JRD newcomers—Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)—are running for reelection in November. All three candidates apparently believe their April 15 votes will help them win, or at least not hurt them.
To be sure, other than Sanders, none of the senators who have voted yes on the JRDs is calling to end US military aid. That apparently remains a red line for Senate Democrats. Instead, they are trying to walk a political tightrope of affirming their overall backing for Israel while seeking to limit particular US weapons until Israel’s military conduct improves. They want to constrain the delivery of certain weapons that Israel may use against civilian targets or in offensive operations (as opposed to what these lawmakers say is necessary for self-defense, such as the US-funded Iron Dome missile defense system). This shift, however nuanced it may appear, is not insignificant. Prior to the 2023 Gaza war, congressional Democrats routinely approved arms for Israel, unmoved by any human rights concerns.
Declining Public Support for Israel
Driving the change is Americans’ diminishing support for Israel across the board, but most strikingly among Democratic voters, Democratic-leaning independents, and young people. Since 2023, a series of polls has shown that these voters, all crucial to Democrats, are increasingly negative toward Israel and sympathetic toward Palestinians. A March 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 80 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have a negative view of Israel, an increase from 69 percent in 2025 and 53 percent in 2022. Nearly half of younger Democrats (those under 50) hold a very negative view. Some Republicans, too, are becoming less positive toward Israel, but a strong majority still backs close US-Israel ties.
Israel and the 2026 Midterm Elections
The public opinion shift among Democrats is influencing some 2026 races. For instance, in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, the two front-runners are, to varying degrees, bucking the party line on Israel. Progressive and longtime Israel critic Abdul El-Sayed seeks a complete end to the $3.8 billion in annual US military aid and characterizes Israel’s Gaza war as a genocide. The more establishment-backed Democrat, Mallory McMorrow, supports restricting offensive weapons for Israel, and in October 2025 described Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide—though her stance on that issue keeps shifting. In that same month, McMorrow also stated that she would not accept AIPAC funding or seek the group’s endorsement, after drawing controversy for a September 2025 report that she had privately produced a position paper for AIPAC that a pro-Israel donor praised as “outstanding.”
McMorrow is one of several mainstream Democrats now refusing to take money from AIPAC, a previously unthinkable stance. The historically powerful lobby group is stirring anger among Democrats for spending record sums to defeat pro-Palestine candidates—or even to defeat pro-Israel candidates who raise questions about certain US weapons sales. In another notable sign of rising Democratic tensions with AIPAC, the leader of the pro-Israel group J Street in March 2026 blasted the group and its affiliates for “increasingly aggressive use of money and political muscle” to silence Israel critics.
In the February 2026 Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, progressive activist and former Bernie Sanders staffer Analilia Mejia scored an upset victory over a more centrist Democrat, former congressman Tom Malinowski, who became an AIPAC target after saying that he would consider placing conditions on some military aid. AIPAC’s intervention backfired: Mejia, who has accused Israel of genocide, went on to defeat a pro-Israel Republican to win a House seat in an April 2026 special election.
In the March 2026 Democratic primary for Illinois’s 9th congressional district, the self-described “progressive Zionist” candidate Daniel Biss overcame 15 Democratic challengers—and more than $5 million in AIPAC-linked spending against him. Biss, who wants the United States to recognize a Palestinian state, won in part by directly criticizing AIPAC, a stance that resonated with voters. Biss said of the group, “Their brand is toxic…They are basically Republicans now, so they don’t really understand Democratic primary voters.”
In New York’s 7th district, progressive Brad Lander, who deems the Gaza war a genocide and wants to cease US military aid to Israel, has Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsement in his bid to unseat pro-Israel incumbent Dan Goldman.
In San Francisco, the three leading Democratic candidates are running to the left of retiring incumbent Nancy Pelosi, former party leader and longtime champion of close US-Israel ties. All three rival candidates say that Israel’s Gaza war constitutes genocide and want to end offensive military sales, and two want to cut off US military aid entirely.
Israel and the 2028 Presidential Election, So Far
As jostling for the 2028 presidential nomination begins, potential Democratic candidates have been more critical of Israel than could have been imagined just a year ago. In March 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom described Israel as “sort of an apartheid state.” Although he later walked back the remark, it sent a message. In April 2026, veteran Democratic official Rahm Emmanuel, who volunteered for the Israeli army during the 1991 Gulf War, also turned heads when he said, “The days of taxpayers subsidizing Israel militarily, that’s over. No more financial aid.” He added that the United States should “never spill any blood for the state of Israel’s security,” which, he says, is exactly what is happening in the Trump-Netanyahu war against Iran.
Both Newsom and Emmanuel have distanced themselves from AIPAC, as have other potential Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Sen. Cory Booker and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who both say that they will no longer accept AIPAC money. Yet all these presidential hopefuls continue to emphasize their overall staunch backing of Israel. Newsom, for example, declared in March 2026, “I revere Israel.” And it is important to note that despite some Democrats’ newfound outspokenness against AIPAC, the group remains extremely well-funded and influential in Democratic politics.
For its part, the party’s leadership is not ready to adjust its platform of robust, unconditional support for Israel. At the Democratic National Committee’s spring 2026 meeting, members deferred votes on resolutions to restrict military aid to Israeli units accused of war crimes, and rejected a measure condemning dark money, in particular AIPAC-linked campaign funding, angering progressives. The episode had echoes of the party’s failure at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, during the Gaza war, to endorse an arms embargo on Israel or even to invite a Palestinian to speak from the main stage, despite grassroots pressure.
Looking Ahead
Ahead of the 2026 midterms, growing numbers of Democratic voters, activists, candidates, and elected officials want to change US policy toward Israel. Once-fringe positions such as limiting certain arms transfers to Israel are moving into the mainstream. But the party’s governing structures remain more old guard on Israel, causing an awkward rift with the changing base. If a wave of Israel-skeptic candidates wins in November, the party’s leadership then may pivot toward a more progressive Israel stance. If not, and if current public opinion trends continue, the party will remain disunited and internal tensions will grow, potentially enabling Trump and Republicans to exploit Democrats’ divisions once again.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab Center Washington DC, its staff, or its Board of Directors.
Featured image credit: screencap/Bernie Sanders via YT
