<\/p>\n
One senator out<\/span> of the 100 who will fill the upper chamber of the 120th Congress was elected to his seat on a loud campaign promise to end U.S. complicity in Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n Abdul El-Sayed will walk into a newfound Democratic majority<\/a> after animating his base with pro-Palestine pledges seldom heard from a U.S. Senate contender. As a first-term senator, he\u2019ll lack seniority on the committees to which he\u2019s assigned. And although his critiques of the U.S. relationship with Israel have proven overwhelmingly popular in public opinion surveys and among voters at the polls, the same can\u2019t be said for most of his soon-to-be colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fight,\u201d said Beth Miller, political advocacy director for Jewish Voice for Peace Action, which supported El-Sayed\u2019s campaign. \u201cThe Democratic establishment, when it\u2019s in control, has not taken measures in support of Palestine in the past. And so this is about making sure that now they finally start listening to what the overwhelming majority of their bases say.\u201d<\/p>\n El-Sayed\u2019s run marked the first time the Jewish-led, anti-Zionist group backed a Senate campaign<\/a>. Pro-Palestine lobbying groups like JVP Action have been pushing for legislation to block weapons transfers to Israel<\/a> for years<\/a>, aligning themselves with a small but growing number of left-leaning House members. The group helped author the Block the Bombs Act, introduced by Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., which netted 82 co-sponsors and became a pro-Palestine litmus test<\/a> in some Democratic primary campaigns.<\/p>\n Building consensus around a single bill in the Senate is harder, but the upper chamber offers stronger levers to pull. Senators can force votes called Joint Resolutions of Disapproval that would block foreign security assistance, such as weapons sales to Israel. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has exercised this option repeatedly throughout the genocide in Gaza to try and block the sale of certain bombs, firearms, and other military equipment to Israel. While his resolutions failed in the Republican-controlled Senate<\/a>, the most recent ones drew support from wide majorities<\/a> of Democrats \u2014 soon to be the party in power.<\/p>\n Yet with the looming threat that Democrats might actually be able to pass legislation, El-Sayed would find himself under pressure from the likely Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, who has long maintained the support of the pro-Israel lobby<\/a>, to fall in line with party priorities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is, \u2018Who does he want to be?\u2019 Does he want to be someone like Bernie, who is willing to sometimes stand up to leadership?\u201d said Hamid Bendaas, communications director for the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, which also backed El-Sayed\u2019s run. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to do that as a freshman and someone who\u2019s just getting in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Bendaas expressed confidence that the Michigan senator would be a champion of pro-Palestine legislation, but he noted that El-Sayed would have to balance his priorities, especially after running a campaign focused on economic populism and providing universal healthcare through Medicare for All.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is a tension revealed by the dilemma facing Sen.-elect El-Sayed: While a growing share of Americans \u2014 and an overwhelming majority of Democrats \u2014\u00a0disapprove of the U.S. spending billions of dollars on aid to Israel, voters\u2019 clear No. 1 concern in the 2026 election cycle was the cost of living and their own economic precarity.<\/p>\n Some pundits have encouraged pro-Palestine candidates like El-Sayed to put their anti-genocide principles aside, arguing<\/a> that more moderate Democrats performed better on Tuesday night. They compare El-Sayed\u2019s 7-percentage-point defeat<\/a> of Mike Rogers to James Talarico\u2019s 12-point win<\/a> over Ken Paxton in Texas \u2014 and some have already asked Talarico to defy<\/a> his new colleague.<\/p>\n But on the campaign trail, El-Sayed often connected the issues of a high cost of living and outsized U.S. spending<\/a> on aid to Israel. \u201cWe ought to be spending our money here, to build schools and provide healthcare and child care here, rather than sending our money abroad to a foreign government that\u2019s done terrible things with our money,\u201d he said in a September interview with Bloomberg TV. El-Sayed\u2019s approach made him the target of nearly $40 million<\/a> in outside spending from the super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee<\/a>, which supported widespread anti-Arab and Islamophobic attacks<\/a> and accusations of antisemitism in an attempt to keep a vocal critic of Israel out of the Senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNone of it mattered,\u201d said Yousef Munayyer<\/a>, a senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington D.C. who likened the gravity of El-Sayed\u2019s win to that of<\/a> New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. \u201cAnd this is not the Commie Corridor. This is a swing state. A lot of taboos here have been shattered, and people are going to learn from this and be emboldened now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the Commie Corridor. This is a swing state. A lot of taboos here have been shattered, and people are going to learn from this and be emboldened now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n In addition to bringing joint resolutions to block future weapons transfers \u2014 like the Trump administration\u2019s planned sale of $2.8 billion<\/a> in 2,000-pound bombs to Israel \u2014\u00a0El-Sayed could introduce resolutions citing the Foreign Assistance Act; Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., used one to demand a State Department report on Israeli detention of Palestinian children<\/a> and Israeli military and settler killings of American citizens<\/a> in the West Bank. He would also be able to introduce amendments to the Pentagon\u2019s annual spending bill that carves out billions of dollars in joint U.S.\u2013Israel weapons research. (The Senate is currently sitting on this year\u2019s $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act, which would even more deeply enmesh Israeli technology<\/a> within the Pentagon\u2019s programs and supply chain.)<\/p>\n Munayyer, the former head of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said that despite the uncertainty over whether moderate Democrats will be willing to link arms with<\/a> progressives next session, El-Sayed\u2019s win creates an environment ripe for accountability over Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a climate now where there\u2019s going to be a lot less intimidation felt by people who had previously been hesitant to speak out on these issues because they thought it was political suicide,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even Republicans are beginning to feel the shifting winds. On the morning of Election Day, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement<\/a> on Fox News that the U.S. would halt the annual $4 billion in military aid to Israel. The move would only cut off one path for Israel to get weapons from the U.S. \u2014 still allowing direct weapons sales to Israel from U.S. companies and weapons development and sharing with the Pentagon \u2014 and Trump said it was made in agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had been previewing<\/a> it for months<\/a>. Tactically, Trump said the goal was to take a \u201ctalking point\u201d away from Democrats. He cited El-Sayed by name.<\/p>\nShifting Winds<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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