The Scoop
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen, has blocked an arms sale to Israel since July and continues to withhold consent for advancing the $2.8 billion transaction, a person familiar with the matter told Semafor.
Shaheen has asked the Trump administration how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to use the weapons since July, the person said. She has unresolved concerns about how the bombs would be used in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza — as well as to intensify the war with Iran.
Her pushback establishes bicameral Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump’s latest proposed arms sales to Israel, complicating the path for the $2.8 billion transaction. House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said this week that the administration has not assured Congress sufficiently that “these weapons will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with US law and with appropriate protections for civilians.”
Shaheen’s move is also the latest sign of Democrats’ full break from Netanyahu’s government as US voters view it increasingly negatively. In April, 40 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted to stop an arms sale to Israel.
The State Department cited a policy of not addressing any aspect of proposed sales until their transmission to Congress. The Pentagon referred a request for comment to State.
Know More
The $2.8 billion deal is the largest of its kind in recent years; it includes 40,000 of the one-ton bombs that Israel has used in Gaza and Lebanon. The sale was first reported earlier this week by The Washington Post.
US taxpayers will bankroll the transaction, with the Trump administration providing Israel with foreign military financing to complete its purchase. Most aid to Israel structured that way has occurred in the form of grants, which the country does not need to pay back.
The State Department generally would not formally transmit the arms sale if a ranking member of either the House or Senate committees of jurisdiction places a hold — but there is no binding restriction from advancing the sale anyway, according to information from a recent Congressional Research Service report.
Indeed, the Trump administration bypassed the congressional review process to sell more than 35,500 of the bombs to Israel last year.
Congress can also hold formal roll-call votes on blocking arms sales.
Notable
- Israel’s purchase of the one-ton bombs grew by nearly eightfold between the 2012-2015 period and 2025, The New York Times reported.