But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Lateefah Simon
Simon co-sponsors the Block the Bombs Act to withhold specified weapons from Israel, voted to block $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing for Israel (July 2026), and says the U.S. "cannot be complicit in an endless war." In September 2025 she said "the genocide against the Palestinian people must end."
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Deep Dive
At a September 11, 2025 Capitol Hill press conference, Simon called for passage of the Block the Bombs Act (H.R. 3565), which she said "would require the withholding of weapons to Israel and ensure and demand Israel's compliance with both U.S. and international law." She said "the genocide against the Palestinian people must end" and that the Israeli government "uses the access to food as a weapon of war."
In July 2026 she voted against the Republican foreign aid budget bill and said: "I also voted for an amendment to block $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing for Israel," adding, "We cannot continue to give military and financial assistance to a government that is not following the Leahy Laws and violating international law." A year earlier, on July 19, 2025, she voted against the Department of Defense funding bill and backed legislation limiting transfers of offensive weapons to Israel that violate U.S. law.
On July 21, 2025, after an attack on civilians seeking food in Gaza, she told KQED that conditions were "devastating, deplorable and unacceptable," that "Gaza is all but leveled. The folks are sick and starving there," and that "we cannot be complicit in an endless war." In February 2025 she welcomed the hostage and prisoner releases and opposed proposals for U.S. ownership of Gaza that would displace more than two million Palestinians, calling those plans "incredibly disturbing and unacceptable."
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 1 of 2 tracked votes · Cosponsors the Block the Bombs Act
• Vote record imported from official House Clerk roll calls for H.R. 6126, H.R. 8034, and H.R. 8369. Other position fields remain under investigation.
How this mark works
We track key votes on sending U.S. weapons and money to the government of Israel. A check means every tracked vote they cast came down against sending more, on the side of peace and de-escalation. A question mark means a mixed record: they sided with sending up to half of the time. An X means they voted to send more weapons and money in over half of their tracked votes, even as the way those weapons and dollars were being used became more and more obvious. At exactly half, money this election cycle from a lobbying group we track, or an endorsement from a group that backs sending weapons, makes it an X. Only votes actually cast are counted. Where a candidate has no recorded votes on these bills, the mark comes instead from a reviewed reading of their public record (money from the lobbying groups we track, endorsements, and their own words since January 26, 2024). There an X also covers fully backing the conduct of the war by the government of Israel without significant reservations, and a question mark also covers speaking about Israel without saying clearly where they stand on U.S. weapons and funding. A dash means No Position Found: we found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.
See a dash? Ask the candidate where they stand, then send us their answer and we'll review it and update the mark. Or volunteer to help review candidates.
Voted to send weapons or funding in some, but no more than half, of their recorded tracked votes. (Supported sending weapons or funding in 1 of 2 tracked votes.)
The money
Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found
In their words
A New Policy PAC (2026 endorsement) · Track AIPAC (2026 endorsement)
Research log
The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- 2025-07-19 [Current position]: Statement with her vote against the Department of Defense funding bill; supports legislation limiting transfers of offensive weapons to Israel that violate U.S. law. Press release; also profiled by J Street PAC. The DoD-bill vote itself is a badge matter; her statement is what is recorded here.
- 2025-07-21 [Current position]: Called for an end to U.S. military funding and arms transfers to Israel after an attack on civilians seeking food in Gaza, saying the U.S. is complicit by continuing to supply weapons. KQED (KQED verifies the complicity quote and a commitment to vote no on measures funding warfare; the arms-transfer phrasing is an initial search’s summary), Al-Quds.
- 2025-09-11 [Current position]: Co-sponsors and advocated passage of H.R. 3565, the Block the Bombs Act: it "would require the withholding of weapons to Israel and ensure and demand Israel's compliance with both U.S. and international law." Press release. A CAIR-SFBA release on the same event would not open.
- 2026-07-15 [Current position]: "I also voted for an amendment to block $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing for Israel." "We cannot continue to give military and financial assistance to a government that is not following the Leahy Laws and violating international law." Press release. (The search notes dated this July 15; the release is dated July 15, 2026.)
Characterization of the conflict
- 2025-02-02 [Current position]: Statement welcoming the hostage and prisoner swap and the safe release of Israeli hostages and freed Palestinians. Press release.
- 2025-02-06 [Current position]: Opposed proposals for U.S. ownership or redevelopment of Gaza displacing more than two million Palestinians: "incredibly disturbing and unacceptable." Press release.
- 2025-07-21 [Current position]: "devastating, deplorable and unacceptable"; "Gaza is all but leveled. The folks are sick and starving there"; "We should be listening to the cries of mothers"; "we cannot be complicit in an endless war." Verified against KQED.
- 2025-09-11 [Current position]: Called Israel's actions in Gaza "the genocide against the Palestinian people" and said the Israeli government "uses the access to food as a weapon of war." Verified against her press release.
Rhetoric and lobbying
- 2025-07-19 [Current position]: Criticized bad-faith amendments designed to "weaponize devastating human suffering for politics." Press release, J Street PAC profile.
- 2025-12-17 [Current position]: Warned against political actors pitting Jewish and Muslim communities against each other. MPAC, Union Theological Seminary.
Safety and antisemitism (context, not a weapons or funding position)
- 2025-12-17 [Current position]: Keynote at the Capitol Hill event "Jewish-Muslim Solidarity: Moral Witness in Pressing Times" (Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Muslim Public Affairs Council); called for fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia together. MPAC, Interfaith Alliance.
- 2026-02-26 [Current position]: Virtual opening address for a Jews of Color Initiative gathering at the Magnes Collection, Berkeley, on multiracial Jewish inclusion and Black-Jewish civil rights solidarity. JoCI.
- 2026-03-20 [Current position]: Co-signed a bipartisan letter requesting $1 billion for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to protect houses of worship. Amo release, letter PDF.
Also in this race
- ✓Opposes Jamie Joyce (Democrat)
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