US Senator Bernie Sanders (the independent from Vermont who twice sought the Democratic presidential nomination) has announced he will force a Senate vote this week on a resolution to halt the sale of nearly half a billion dollars' worth of bombs and bulldozers to Israel, calling the Netanyahu government's conduct in Gaza "genocide." The bill is widely expected to fail in the Republican-controlled Senate, but it will serve as a litmus test for Democratic support for Israel at a moment when public sympathy for the US ally has sharply declined — a Gallup poll from February found only 17 percent of Democratic respondents sympathise more with Israelis than Palestinians. The move comes as broader frustration mounts over US involvement in the Israel-Iran war and ongoing violence in Gaza, with even the liberal Zionist lobbying group J Street calling for the first time for a phased reduction of US military aid to Israel.