But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Jon Ossoff
- Backed with $105K by PACs we track that support U.S. weapons funding for the government of Israel (lifetime)
- ✓ Endorsed by Peace Action
- Sits on Senate Appropriations
Ossoff votes on these sales one at a time, and his votes have moved: against blocking bomb sales to the government of Israel in 2025, for blocking rifles, bulldozers and bombs since. He told the Senate no foreign government is entitled to American weapons "with no strings attached".
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You asked Jon Ossoff where they stand.
Deep Dive
Ossoff is Georgia's junior senator, seeking a second term. Most senators treat the resolutions to block particular arms sales as one question and answer it the same way every time. He does not. He has voted for some and against others, sometimes on the same evening, and he has explained each one.
The principle he keeps returning to he set out on the Senate floor in November 2024, splitting his votes three ways in a single sitting. "No foreign government, no matter how close an ally, gets everything it wants whenever it wants, to use however it wants", he said. "It is entirely appropriate for the United States to insist that foreign powers use American weapons consistent with our interests, our values, and our laws." In the same speech he called the American commitment to Israel's security "ironclad" and reached for a precedent: President Reagan withholding cluster munitions in 1982. The three sales in front of the Senate that evening were 120-millimetre tank rounds, high-explosive mortar rounds and JDAM bomb guidance kits, and the reported death toll in Gaza stood at 43,985.
Then he changed his mind, and then he changed it back. In April 2025 he voted against two resolutions that would have blocked roughly $8.8 billion in bomb sales. What those sales carried is worth saying rather than leaving to the badges: one was bombs and guidance kits, and the other was $2.04 billion of 2,000-pound bombs, the same weapon whose delivery the previous administration had paused a year earlier. By the day of those votes the Gaza health ministry had reported 50,523 people killed, 17,954 of them children. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that passing them "would have been damaging" because this "may be the last window of opportunity to achieve the release of all surviving hostages and restore a ceasefire". Three months later he split again and said why the same night: he voted to block a rifle sale because "I do not believe the United States Senate should acquiesce without objection to the extreme mass deprivation of civilians in Gaza, including the intolerable starvation of children, that have resulted from the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government", and against blocking air-to-ground munitions because the Israeli people face rocket and missile attack from Iran, Lebanon and Yemen. The munitions he let through that night were $675.7 million of 1,000-pound bombs and JDAM guidance kits, and the reported toll had reached 60,138. In April 2026 he voted to block both a $295 million sale of armoured bulldozers and a $151.8 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs, by which time the reported toll was 72,344 killed, 20,179 of them children. Both motions failed.
The other half of his record runs the whole time underneath that. In the summer of 2025 he asked his colleagues on the Appropriations Committee "to allocate an additional $500 million for U.S.-Israel collaborative defense programs including Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow", noting he has backed those programmes every year he has been in the Senate. Missile defence up, particular offensive shipments blocked, the alliance affirmed and the Israeli government criticised by name: that is the whole of his position, and he states all of it out loud.
The record
Supported sending weapons or funding in 5 of 10 tracked votes
Senate Committee on Appropriations
• November 17, 2023: Delivered a Senate floor speech (released in full transcript by his office on November 17; the release states it was delivered that week) five weeks after the October 7 attack, affirming Israel's right to self-defense while warning that the 'unfolding humanitarian catastrophe' in Gaza threatened U.S. national security, and stating that where the U.S. commits 'arms, funds, and support' it 'must guard our principles and our interests.'
• November 20, 2024: Voted for the motions to discharge S.J.Res. 111 (blocking a sale of 120mm tank cartridges to Israel; rejected 18-79) and S.J.Res. 113 (blocking a mortar-round sale; rejected 19-78), and against the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 115 (blocking a JDAM-related export license amendment; rejected 17-80); explained the split in a floor speech invoking Reagan's 1982 withholding of cluster munitions from Israel.
• April 3, 2025: Voted against both Sanders joint resolutions of disapproval (S.J.Res. 33, rejected 15-82, and S.J.Res. 26, rejected 15-83) that would have blocked roughly $8.8 billion in bomb sales to Israel, reversing his November 2024 support for some such measures; he told the AJC that passing the resolutions could have damaged hostage-release and ceasefire diplomacy.
• July 30, 2025: Voted for the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 41 (blocking a sale of rifles to Israel; rejected 27-70) and against the motion to discharge S.J.Res. 34 (blocking a sale of air-to-ground munitions, comprising 1,000-pound bomb bodies and JDAM guidance kits; rejected 24-73), issuing a same-night statement citing 'the intolerable starvation of children' in Gaza and concern the rifles would go to police forces under Itamar Ben-Gvir, while defending continued support for Israel's air capability.
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 5 of 10 tracked votes.)
The money
$105K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track
In their words
JStreetPAC (2026 cycle) · Peace Action (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
- [Position, 2024-11-20] Floor speech in the Congressional Record, pages S6666-S6667, under the heading U.S. Arms Sales, explaining his votes that evening: "But no foreign government is simply entitled as a matter of right to American weapons with no strings attached. No foreign government, no matter how close an ally, gets everything it wants whenever it wants, to use however it wants. It is entirely appropriate for the United States to insist that foreign powers use American weapons consistent with our interests, our values, and our laws." Same speech: Reagan's 1982 withholding of cluster munitions, and "Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad."
- [Position, 2024-11-20] Voted to discharge S.J.Res. 111 (120mm tank cartridges) and S.J.Res. 113 (mortar cartridges), and against discharging S.J.Res. 115, a licence amendment covering guided-bomb kits. The weapons in each were identified from the bill texts. WABE reported the split.
- [Position, 2025-04-03] Voted against discharging S.J.Res. 33 and S.J.Res. 26, together covering about $8.8 billion in bomb sales. A reversal from November, and reported as one by Jewish Insider, which names him among four senators who changed position.
- [Position, 2025-04-04] To the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, explaining that vote: "In my judgment, passing these resolutions would have been damaging." And: "This may be the last window of opportunity to achieve the release of all surviving hostages and restore a ceasefire. Support for that diplomacy has to be our focus." The article renders these as one statement split by attribution, so they are kept as separate spans here rather than joined.
- [Position, June 2025] In an update to constituents on his own Senate site he writes: "In recent months I cosponsored bipartisan legislation to strengthen cooperation between the United States and Israel countering threats from missiles, rockets, and unmanned aerial vehicles. I also recently asked fellow members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to allocate an additional $500 million for U.S.-Israel collaborative defense programs including Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow — programs I have supported every year in the Senate." Opened and confirmed word for word. Direction named: for more United States money for those defensive programmes. This is the half of his record that was missing before.
- [Position, 2025-07-30] His own statement the night of the votes, on discharging the rifle-sale resolution: "I do not believe the United States Senate should acquiesce without objection to the extreme mass deprivation of civilians in Gaza, including the intolerable starvation of children, that have resulted from the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Furthermore, these weapons would likely have been allocated to police forces under the control of Itamar Ben-Gvir." And on the munitions resolution he voted against: "Despite my opposition to Prime Minister Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Gaza, I believe the United States must continue to support the Israeli people, who face the persistent threat of rocket and missile attack and have been subjected to intense aerial bombardment from Iran, Lebanon, and Yemen." His statement calls the measures S. Res. 41 and S. Res. 34; the measures voted on were S.J.Res. 41 and S.J.Res. 34. Roll calls: S.J.Res. 41, and the munitions measure whose contents are set out in its bill text. Tallies confirmed by the Senate Democratic Caucus wrap-up, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution covered the votes.
- [Position, 2026] Voted to discharge S.J.Res. 32, on a sale of armoured bulldozers, and S.J.Res. 138, on a sale of 1,000-pound bombs. Both are votes to block, and the second is a bomb sale, which is where he had drawn his line the year before. No statement explaining this shift was found.
- [Position, 2024-04-23] Voted for the national security supplemental carrying military aid to the government of Israel.
- [Earlier record, 2021-05-17] Signed a joint Senate statement urging a ceasefire while supporting defensive military aid against rocket attacks. Its carrier is a social-media post that returns one word of shell to us, so nothing is quoted.
- [Reaction window, 2023-11-17] Floor speech released by his office: "I fervently want Israel to succeed, both in defeating the threat posed by Hamas, and as a historic effort to secure a safe homeland for Jews. But I do not accept that the total deprivation of millions of innocent civilians is necessary for Israel to secure its objectives, or in the national interest of the United States, and where the United States is committing arms, funds, and support to those efforts, we must guard our principles and our interests." The same speech calls the level of civilian suffering a moral failure and unacceptable to the United States. Not on the card summary: dated inside the reaction window. An outlet's account of that speech, at https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/pro-israeli-us-lawmaker-calls-gaza-genocide--moral-failure, refuses our requests.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2025-07-30] The same statement urges the administration to apply its full diplomatic weight to a ceasefire that would release hostages, end Hamas rule in Gaza and allow a large infusion of humanitarian resources. Nothing located in which he takes a position on a specific United States aid appropriation for Palestinians.
Characterization of the conflict
- Carried inside the statements above: the policies of the Netanyahu government, named as such, distinguished from the Israeli people and from the alliance. In the July 2025 statement he also calls Hamas a despicable terrorist organisation.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Position, 2026-08-12] His claim that his commitment to Israel's defence remains ironclad has been contested in Georgia. Jewish Insider covered the argument, and his opponent's party committee published its own attack on the same point. The committee's page is campaign material and is recorded, not relied on.
- [Position, 2025-08-12] Met leaders of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association; the carrier is a social-media post that does not answer us.
- Endorsed by JStreetPAC for the 2026 cycle; its candidate page carries the endorsement badge.
- Democratic Majority for Israel lifetime support of $104,768.54 is a badge on this card and is not restated (corrected 2026-09-24: the earlier $207,037.08 counted the same four December 2020 expenditures twice, as 24-hour notices and again in DMFI's regular report).
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Position, 2023-02-06] Condemned antisemitic flyers distributed in Georgia neighbourhoods.
- [Position, 2025-05-22] Condemned the deadly attack near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.
- [Position, 2026-06-16] Called his general-election opponent an antisemite, covered by The Times of Israel. Context on the race, not an answer on what the United States sends.
Race and status context
- Democratic incumbent seeking re-election.
- His Republican opponent has his own card on this site.
Also in this race
- ✗Supports Mike Collins (Republican)
- ?Mixed Christina Clement (write-in) (Republican)
- –No Position Found Al Bartell (write-in) (Independent)
All Georgia candidates.
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