The US Senate voted on 15 April on two resolutions introduced by progressive Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont) that sought to block specific arms transfers to Israel, including armoured bulldozers and 12,000 one-thousand-pound bombs valued at a combined $453 million. Although both resolutions failed — Republicans, who hold the Senate majority, voted unanimously in favour of the aid — 40 of 46 Democratic senators supported the measures, up sharply from just 15 a year earlier, marking what Israel's liberal newspaper Haaretz described as a "dramatic shift" that has turned opposition to unconditional military aid from a fringe position into a Democratic mainstream consensus. Several senators seen as contenders for the 2028 presidential nomination, including Mark Kelly, Elissa Slotkin, and Ruben Gallego, voted to block the transfers for the first time, with many citing Prime Minister Netanyahu's alignment with President Trump and mounting public opposition — polls now show roughly 60 percent of American adults hold an unfavourable view of Israel — as reasons for the change.