WASHINGTON — Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) voted to block two weapons packages bound for Israel, specifically bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs for the Israeli Defense Forces, breaking from his steady history of approving arms sales to the Jewish state.
In an attempt to block the shipments, a group of Democratic senators forced floor votes on the resolutions on Wednesday. The chamber voted 40-59 to block the sale of the bulldozers — D9R and D9T models made by Caterpillar Inc. — and 36-63 to block the sale of the bombs, 12,000 in total. The Israeli Defense Forces is known for using bulldozers to demolish homes on a broad scale in the West Bank and Gaza.
In a statement after the votes, Booker focused on President Donald Trump and Iran, not Israel.
Credit: (AP Photos/Jacquelyn Martin)“With no congressional approval or strategy for success, Trump has led America into a reckless, dangerous quagmire in Iran that continues to spiral out of control,” Booker said. “I am using every tool available to me to stop this war, and do not support more weapons to continue the combat, whether it is to our own government or to one of our closest allies.”
Booker’s votes mark a sharp pivot from those he cast since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, a conflict that has ravaged the Palestinian Territories and killed more than 70,000 people, including at least 20,000 children.
During the ongoing war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, Booker has voted for seven arms packages headed to Israel. Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) has consistently voted against the weapons supply.
The Trump administration is expected to request more than $200 billion from Congress to fund the war against Iran that Trump started in late February.
Most arms deals are approved between the weapons manufacturers and a foreign government, the customer, without scrutiny from Congress. Federal law, though, requires Congress be notified of arms sales, such as a $4.5 billion deal this week to send a missile defense system made in Burlington County to a Middle Eastern ally.
In an interview last year with NJ Spotlight News, Kim said he’s confident the Israeli military and government leaders have committed war crimes.
One of them, starvation, likely is occurring in Gaza, he said. “That’s very likely that we’ve gotten to that type of place where those types of allegations are legitimate to look into,” Kim said. “From my standpoint, what we’re seeing is very clear, clear starvation.”
Starvation as a war tactic is a crime under international law.
“I don’t support providing the weapons and equipment considered by these JRD votes that would further prolong and perpetuate this illegal and unconstitutional war,” Kim said in a statement Wednesday night, using the acronym for joint resolutions of disapproval, the names of the bills to block weapons shipments.
Booker has been more timid than Kim in his language about weapons to Israel. In January 2024, Booker voted to table a congressional effort for a State Department investigation into possible human rights abuses in Israel.
Booker is up for reelection, though he has not ruled out running for president in 2028.
The votes this week are a high-water mark in support for blocking arms from going to Israel.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J-Street, a center-left advocacy group for peace in Israel, called the Senate votes an “important step” against policies of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “that have devastated the region and done immense harm to Israel’s security and its global standing.”
Previous votes to block weapons sales have received support from about half of Senate Democrats, well short of the majority of Democrats who voted against the sales this week.
