Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said Thursday that she would have voted to block arms sales to Israel over hunger in Gaza after missing a series of Senate votes Wednesday night to appear on Stephen Colbert’s show.
The Michigan senator said she was worried about the lack of food and medicine entering Gaza, and that “images of emaciated children are hard to turn away from.”
“Should similar votes on offensive weapons come up in the future, I will take them on a case-by-case basis, with the hope of important humanitarian course corrections,” she wrote in a lengthy statement on X. “While the leaders of Hamas deserve what they’re getting in response to October 7, and Israel — like any other country in the world — has the right to defend itself, that doesn’t include letting children go hungry.”
The resolutions, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), would have blocked more than $675 million in weapons sales to Israel, and barred another transfer of tens of thousands of assault rifles. They were resoundingly defeated in the Senate, although a record number of Democrats — more than half the caucus — voted in favor.
The votes came amidst growing worry in the Democratic caucus over what the United Nations termed “mounting evidence of famine and widespread starvation” in Gaza, where Israel’s war is nearing its two-year mark.
President Trump has also expressed concern with the situation, acknowledging earlier this week that there was “real starvation” in the territory.
Slotkin, who is Jewish, served three tours in Iraq as a CIA analyst in the early 2000s. She said in her statement that her experience in the Middle East showed her that aid could be safely distributed in complex war zones.
“[E]ven in the most violent years of the war, the U.S. still had the responsibility to facilitate humanitarian supplies into places like Fallujah,” she wrote. “And militaries that can pull off dangerous and complex operations overseas can also ensure aid is safely distributed in occupied areas.”
Slotkin also said that the conduct of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had significantly undermined the country’s standing among American lawmakers, writing that he had threatened “the longstanding bipartisan consensus that have helped keep Israel safe since its inception.”
Still, Slotkin appeared to garner criticism from fellow Michigander Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D), the only Palestinian-American in Congress.
“Shame on every senator who voted to continue arming the Israeli apartheid regime or didn't even have the courage to show up and vote,” the representative wrote on X.
Michigan is home to one of the largest populations of Arab Americans in the country and was the epicenter of backlash during the 2024 election against the Biden administration’s support of Israel.
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