A Senate effort led by Bernie Sanders to block U.S. arms sales to Israel failed on Wednesday. Sanders, an independent who aligns with Senate Democrats, has now brought forward four separate resolutions seeking to halt U.S. military aid to Israel. Each attempt has been rejected, with opposition from Republicans and a number of Democrats.

Still, Wednesday’s vote reflected a shift. Forty senators supported a measure to stop a $295 million sale of bulldozers, while 36 backed a separate resolution to block the transfer of 12,000 1,000-pound bombs valued at $151.8 million.

“That shift reflects where the American people are,” Sanders said in a statement late on Wednesday. “Americans, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or independents, want to see our tax money invested in improving lives here at home – not used to kill innocent women and children in the Middle East and put American troops in harm’s way as part of Netanyahu’s illegal wars of expansion.

“What’s astonishing is that, despite overwhelming opposition across this country, Republicans continue to side with Netanyahu and Trump,” Sanders added.

Support for such measures has steadily increased during the current Congress. In April, only 15 of the 47 Democratic-aligned senators backed similar proposals. That number rose to 27 in July, and climbed further in Wednesday’s vote. The trend reflects growing discomfort among Democratic voters over Israeli policy under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly regarding military operations in Gaza and southern Lebanon, as well as coordination with President Donald Trump during tensions involving Iran.

“Being a stalwart friend of Israel, however, does not mean agreeing with all decisions of the Israeli Government or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just like being a patriot of the United States does not require unquestioning agreement with the policy decisions of President Donald Trump and his administration,” California senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla said in a joint statement, after voting in favor of the resolutions. Both had previously opposed similar measures.

Ahead of the vote, Sanders framed the resolutions as a challenge to the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), which has spent heavily on political campaigns in recent election cycles and continues to invest in upcoming races.

“Let us be clear: given the horrific and illegal behavior of the Netanyahu government over the last three years, the American people have had enough. Support for Israel in this country has plummeted,” he said, citing a Pew Research Center survey released this month finding that 80% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans view the country negatively.

“Maybe, just maybe, the Senate should start listening to their constituents and not just to the wealthy individuals who fund Aipac,” he continued. “And that is what today’s vote is all about.”

In the House of Representatives, some progressive lawmakers have gone further, calling for a complete halt to U.S. military aid to Israel, including funding for defensive systems such as Iron Dome.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this month said she would “not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and US law”. Representative Ro Khanna expressed a similar position in an interview with Zeteo, saying: “I do believe Iron Dome is important in terms of saving lives. Israel can buy it with their own money.”

Advocacy groups critical of Israeli policies have also intensified pressure on Democratic lawmakers. Earlier this week, dozens of protesters were arrested outside the New York City offices of Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, urging them to support Sanders’s resolutions.

Despite the demonstrations, both Gillibrand and Schumer voted against the measures, consistent with their prior positions.

Separately, a coalition of progressive organizations—including Indivisible, MoveOn, J Street, and Jewish Voice for Peace—sent a letter urging senators to back the effort to halt weapons transfers, describing it as “an opportunity send a clear message that senators oppose any continuation of the war with Iran.”

The groups raised concerns about the weapons involved, saying the 1,000-pound bombs present “urgent legal and moral concerns” and have been used “in densely populated areas in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, with significant documented civilian casualties”. They also argued that the bulldozers “have been widely used in operations involving large-scale demolition of homes, civilian infrastructure, and entire neighborhoods in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, contributing to forced displacement and de facto annexation”.

In a separate but related development, Senate Democrats forced a vote on a war powers resolution aimed at limiting President Trump’s ability to continue military action against Iran. That measure also failed after being voted down by Republicans, though Democrats have increasingly used such votes to pressure the administration amid public opposition to the conflict.

Following his vote against Sanders’s proposals, Senator Chris Coons of Delaware explained that while he supported efforts “to end president Trump’s war of choice with Iran”, he could not “abandon our steadfast ally, Israel, and the Americans who live within its borders”.

“My votes should be taken neither as an endorsement of the actions of the Netanyahu government nor as an abandonment of the state of Israel, the Jewish people, or the US-Israel relationship,” he said.