‘Seismic shift’: More than 100 House Democrats vote to cut Israel military aid

In what is being viewed as a “seismic shift,” more than 100 Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted yesterday to end $3.3 billion in annual military assistance to Israel. The vote marks a dramatic break with decades of bipartisan support for the occupation state and signals that unconditional backing for Israel is becoming an electoral liability.

The amendment, introduced by Republican representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, failed by 314 votes to 104, while ten lawmakers voted present. However, the roll call showed that 103 Democrats supported the measure, compared with 98 who opposed it. Massie was the only Republican to vote in favour, while 215 members of his party rejected it.

The result meant that nearly half of the entire Democratic caucus, and a slim majority of Democrats who cast a definitive vote, backed ending the military funding. The scale of the revolt represented a significant change from April 2024, when only 37 Democrats opposed a separate package of military assistance for Israel. The number of Democratic lawmakers prepared to vote against Israeli aid has almost tripled in just over two years.

The amendment would have removed funding from a State Department spending bill and blocked the $3.3 billion in annual security assistance provided under the existing US-Israel agreement.

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of Israel’s most longstanding supporters in Congress, also voted for the amendment. Pelosi described it as flawed but said she wanted to send a message that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government could not continue on its present course.

Pro-Israel Democrat Josh Gottheimer, described the scale of opposition as a “seismic shift” and accused colleagues of responding to political pressure.

That political pressure reflects a dramatic change in public opinion. A Pew Research Center survey published in April found that 60 per cent of Americans now hold an unfavourable view of Israel, compared with 53 per cent in 2025 and approximately 42 per cent in 2022. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the proportion holding an unfavourable view has reached 80 per cent, rising from 53 per cent in 2022.

The shift also extends beyond the Democratic base. Pew found that 57 per cent of Republicans under the age of 50 view Israel unfavourably, although older Republican voters remain broadly supportive.

Gallup recorded an even more striking reversal in February. For the first time since it began its annual measurement in 2001, Americans were no longer more likely to sympathise with Israelis than Palestinians. Forty-one per cent expressed greater sympathy for Palestinians, compared with 36 per cent for Israelis.

Read: Poll shows majority of Americans oppose aid to Israel

Among Americans aged between 18 and 34, 53 per cent sympathised more with Palestinians and only 23 per cent with Israelis. Among those aged between 35 and 54, Palestinians led by 46 per cent to 28 per cent — an almost complete reversal from 2025, when Israelis led within the same age group by 45 per cent to 33 per cent.

A July poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also found that 58 per cent of Democrats believe Washington is too supportive of Israel, up from 45 per cent in January 2024. Sixty-two per cent said the US does not provide enough support to Palestinians, while 52 per cent of Democrats said that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide.

Analysts view the recent shift in voting patterns as an indication of Politicians responding to shift in public attitude. Candidates who placed opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and rejection of pro-Israel lobby funding at the centre of their campaigns have defeated establishment Democrats in recent New York primaries. In Colorado, democratic socialist Melat Kiros, a vocal critic of Israel, defeated 15-term incumbent Diana DeGette.

An internal Democratic review of the 2024 presidential election also reportedly concluded that former president Joe Biden’s unconditional backing for Israel was a “net-negative” which cost the party support among younger, progressive and Arab-American voters.