But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check

Ayanna Pressley

Democrat · U.S. House, Massachusetts District 7
?Supported sending weapons or funding in 1 of 6 tracked votes

Pressley voted in July 2026 for an amendment to end FY27 funds and $3.3 billion in military financing for the government of Israel. In August 2025 she said the United States is complicit in what is happening in Gaza and “the key supplier of offensive weapons to Israel”.

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Deep Dive

The July 2026 vote came with a statement Pressley signed alongside 26 other House members, saying they do not support “an additional $3.3 billion of American taxpayer dollars to be used for Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon” and that human rights conditions on American security assistance have not been meaningfully enforced. Her office says she co-sponsors the Block the Bombs Act, which would withhold the transfer of offensive weapons to the government of Israel and demand compliance with U.S. and international law.

The record runs the same way back through the war. In April 2024 she filed an amendment placing a one-year moratorium on transfers of offensive weapons to the Israeli military, which would have left missile defense systems in place. It was not adopted, and in her statement on that week’s votes she called it unconscionable for Congress to consider sending more offensive weapons and funding to the Israeli military, said she voted no on H.R. 8034, and called for restoring funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the UN body that provides services to Palestinian refugees. That May she joined 56 lawmakers asking the administration to withhold certain offensive military aid to the Israeli government to preempt an assault on Rafah, and in November she urged the Senate to pass Senator Bernie Sanders’ resolutions blocking sales of offensive arms to the Israeli government.

She has called the war in Gaza a genocide since at least July 2024, when she said at a press conference with colleagues and advocates: “The U.S. government has been shamefully complicit in the Israeli military genocide of the Palestinian people”. She used the word again in her statement on the January 2025 ceasefire and hostage deal and two years after the October 7 attack. She did not attend Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress in July 2024, saying “While the United States Congress wrongly platforms Prime Minister Netanyahu today, a war criminal, I want to platform the people”.

On safety and antisemitism, she condemned a 2022 map identifying Boston-area Jewish institutions, saying it is not acceptable to target or make vulnerable Jewish institutions or organizations, and in January 2022 she joined the Massachusetts delegation in a statement of solidarity with the Jewish community after the hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Her earlier record on this question, and her statements and votes from the weeks after the October 7 attack, are on the research page.

The record

Supported sending weapons or funding in 1 of 6 tracked votes · Cosponsors the Block the Bombs Act

Floor votes
H.R. 6126 - Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act2023-11-02 · Passed 226-196
✓ Voted No
voted against sending it
H.R. 7217 - Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 20242024-02-06 · Failed 250-180 (needed 2/3 under suspension)
✓ Voted No
voted against sending it
H.R. 8034 - Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 20242024-04-20 · Passed 366-58
✓ Voted No
voted against sending it
H.R. 8369 - Israel Security Assistance Support Act2024-05-16 · Passed 224-187
✓ Voted No
voted against sending it
H.R. 8595 - Massie amendment (Part A No. 8) to bar FY27 funds for Israel and cut $3.3B in Foreign Military Financing2026-07-15 · Failed 104-314
✓ Voted Yes
voted to limit or block it
H.Amdt. 55 to H.R. 4016 - strike $500M for Israeli Cooperative Programs2025-07-18 · Failed 6-422 (only 6 voted to cut)
✗ Voted No
voted against limiting it
Bill sponsorship
H.R. 3565 - Block the Bombs ActWould bar transfer of 2,000-lb/BLU-109 bunker busters, JDAMs, 120mm tank rounds, and 155mm artillery shells to Israel. Does not affect Iron
Co-sponsorbacks this bill to restrict weapons transfers
H.R. 1229 - United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025Formalizes/expands bilateral defense cooperation with Israel.
Not sponsoringhas not backed this support bill
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 6 tracked votes.)

The money

Checked the five lobbying groups we track; no direct 2026 support found

2026 support from the five lobbying groups we track
Nothing recorded (as of 2026-09-27) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.
Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.
✓ Endorsed by Peace Action +2 more
Peace ActionA national peace and disarmament group. Its endorsements cover war, Pentagon spending and diplomacy broadly, not only U.S. weapons for the government of Israel.A New Policy PACA group backing congressional candidates who want a new U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine grounded in U.S. and international law, including conditions on military aid.Track AIPACA watchdog on AIPAC-linked money. It backs candidates who reject AIPAC support and call for an arms embargo and conditions on aid to the government of Israel.These endorsements come from groups that push to restrict or end U.S. weapons transfers to the government of Israel. Endorsements from these groups are shown for information; they do not decide the mark.

In their words

“The United States is complicit in these horrors and the key supplier of offensive weapons to Israel”
Source ↗, 2025-08-12
“Today in Gaza, we are witnessing a genocide, and we must continue to call for peace.”
Source ↗, 2025-10-07
“the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the genocide in Gaza unleashed by the Israeli military and aided by U.S. dollars”
Source ↗, 2025-01-15
“I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support Senator Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block the sales of offensive arms to the Israeli government.”
Source ↗, 2024-11-20
“While the United States Congress wrongly platforms Prime Minister Netanyahu today, a war criminal, I want to platform the people”
Source ↗, 2024-07-24
“It is unconscionable that Congress would consider sending more offensive weapons and funding to the Israeli military, which for months has operated with callous disregard for human life in Gaza and perpetrated significant human rights violations.”
Source ↗, 2024-04-20
“Our amendments would help deliver desperately needed humanitarian assistance and stop the flow of offensive weapons that have been used by the Israeli military to kill Palestinians en masse.”
Source ↗, 2024-04-19
Endorsements

Peace Action (2026 endorsement) · 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.

Everything located for this card, by research dimension. Dates are the date carried on the page.

### 1. U.S. military aid and weapons

  • [Position, 2026-07-15] Pressley is listed among the members voting yes on the Massie amendment to H.R. 8595, which would bar FY27 funds for Israel and reduce Foreign Military Financing by $3.3 billion, and among the 27 signers of a joint statement on that vote: "we do not support providing an additional $3.3 billion of American taxpayer dollars to be used for Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon" (Foundation for Middle East Peace round-up). Boston.com reported the same day that the full Massachusetts House delegation voted for the amendment and printed the joint statement, noting Pressley signed it (Boston.com).
  • [Position, 2025-10-07] Her office states she "is a co-sponsor of the Block the Bombs Act, which would withhold the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli government and demand the Israeli military’s compliance with U.S. and international law" (pressley.house.gov). The bill is H.R. 3565 in the 119th Congress. The congress.gov cosponsor list for that bill did not open for us on 2026-09-07, so it is not linked here; the co-sponsorship rests on her office’s own statement.
  • [Position, 2025-08-12] To GBH News, on the escalation in Gaza: "The United States is complicit in these horrors and the key supplier of offensive weapons to Israel," and "The United States must use every diplomatic option available to pressure the Netanyahu government to reverse course, immediately end the genocide, and urgently rush aid in to Gaza" (GBH News).
  • [Position, 2025-08] Her office records that she and Rep. Brittany Pettersen led 101 colleagues in calling on the administration to demand that the Israeli government facilitate a surge of humanitarian aid, and infant formula in particular, into Gaza (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Position, 2024-11-20] Statement urging the Senate to pass Senator Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval: "I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support Senator Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block the sales of offensive arms to the Israeli government. By doing so, Congress will enforce U.S. law and hold the Israeli government accountable for devasting human rights violations" (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Position, 2024-07-24] At a press conference the day of the Netanyahu address: "The U.S. government has been shamefully complicit in the Israeli military genocide of the Palestinian people... Shelters incinerated by U.S.-made bombs." GBH News reports she closed by calling for an immediate end to the transfer of U.S.-made weapons to Israel and a permanent ceasefire including the return of all hostages (GBH News). The Dorchester Reporter records that she spoke on the House floor earlier that day to call on the United States to stop sending weapons to Israel (Dorchester Reporter).
  • [Position, 2024-05-02] She joined Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Madeleine Dean and 54 other lawmakers in a letter: "We urge you to invoke existing law and policy to immediately withhold certain offensive military aid to the Israeli government, including aid sourced from legislation already signed into law, in order to preempt a full-scale assault on Rafah" (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Position, 2024-04-20] Statement on the foreign aid votes: "It is unconscionable that Congress would consider sending more offensive weapons and funding to the Israeli military, which for months has operated with callous disregard for human life in Gaza and perpetrated significant human rights violations." She states in the same release that she voted no on H.R. 8034, yes on H.R. 8035 for Ukraine, and calls for restoring funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (pressley.house.gov; mirrored verbatim by LegiStorm).
  • [Position, 2024-04-19] She filed two amendments to the supplemental: one raising humanitarian aid in the bill from $9.1 billion to $26.4 billion, one placing a one-year moratorium on the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli military. The release states the moratorium amendment "would allow the United States to continue providing missile defense systems to Israel, including the Iron Dome." Her words: "Our amendments would help deliver desperately needed humanitarian assistance and stop the flow of offensive weapons that have been used by the Israeli military to kill Palestinians en masse" (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Earlier record, 2021-05-13] House floor speech, as reported the next day: she said the U.S. government sent "$3.8 billion of military aid to Israel that is used to demolish Palestinian homes, imprison Palestinian children and displace Palestinian families," and "A budget is a reflection of our values, I’m committed to ensuring that our government does not fund state-violence in any form, anywhere.... The question at hand is: Should our taxpayer dollars create conditions for justice, healing and repair, or should those dollars create conditions for oppression and apartheid?" (Newsweek, published 2021-05-14).

### 2. Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2025-10-07] "Today in Gaza, we are witnessing a genocide, and we must continue to call for peace." The same statement calls the October 7 attack "horrific and devastating" and mourns those killed and taken hostage that day (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Position, 2025-01-15] On the ceasefire and hostage deal, she grieved "the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the genocide in Gaza unleashed by the Israeli military and aided by U.S. dollars" (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Position, 2024-07-24] "The U.S. government has been shamefully complicit in the Israeli military genocide of the Palestinian people" (GBH News).
  • [Reaction window, 2023-10-25] Statement explaining her present vote on H.Res. 771 (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Reaction window, 2023-10-16] The Working Families Party ceasefire tracker lists her as a co-sponsor of H.Res. 786 (Working Families Party). The tracker page carries no date of its own for the entry; our research recorded the page as dated 2023-11-10.
  • [Earlier record, 2021-05-13] She characterized the treatment of Palestinians as "oppression and apartheid" in the floor speech above (Newsweek).
  • [Earlier record, 2019-07-24] An opinion piece critical of her vote on H.Res. 246 reproduces her own post: "What I heard resounding in community was that voting yes on this resolution affirmed to my constituents raised in the Jewish faith Israel’s right to exist, a view I share as a supporter of a two state solution" (Middle East Eye). The article itself is a third party writing about her; only her reproduced words are used.

### 3. Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • [Position, 2024-07-24] She did not attend Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress. CBS Boston quotes her: "While the United States Congress wrongly platforms Prime Minister Netanyahu today, a war criminal, I want to platform the people" (CBS Boston). GBH News and the Dorchester Reporter carry longer versions of the same remark, transcribed with different punctuation (GBH News; Dorchester Reporter).
  • [Position, 2024-07-25] She told NOTUS that skipping the address was in solidarity with Rep. Rashida Tlaib: "Our sisterhood is not a gimmick; it’s a real thing" (NOTUS).
  • [Earlier record, 2019-07-24] She voted for H.Res. 246, which opposes campaigns to boycott the government of Israel (Middle East Eye). Not about U.S. weapons or funding.
  • [Earlier record, 2019-08-15] Our research turned up a claim that she denounced the Israeli government’s decision to bar Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering Israel and the Palestinian territories, resting on a Courthouse News article. We opened that article on 2026-09-07: it names Pressley only as a member of the same group of legislators and carries no statement from her. The claim is not supported by that page and is not used (Courthouse News).

### 4. Safety and antisemitism

  • [Earlier record, 2022-06-09] On a map published by an activist group identifying Boston-area Jewish institutions: "It is not acceptable to target or make vulnerable Jewish institutions or organizations, full stop. There is no doubt that antisemitism and organized, violent white supremacy are at a boiling point in this nation and threaten our communities, so we must be vigilant when it comes to keeping each other safe" (pressley.house.gov). Jewish Insider carried the same statement on 2022-06-13, reproduced on a colleague’s House site (Jewish Insider Daily Kickoff), and The Forward reported it on 2022-06-14 (The Forward).
  • [Earlier record, 2022-01-20] She joined the full Massachusetts congressional delegation in a statement after the hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas: "We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community... the rising tide of antisemitism has forced Jewish organizations across the country to confront violence as a clear and present threat" (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Earlier record, 2021-05-21] "I strongly condemn the rise in anti-Semitism and islamophobia we’re seeing across the country," as quoted in a 2021-05-27 report (Jewish Telegraphic Agency).
  • [Reaction window, 2023-10-27] She joined Reps. Summer Lee and Chris Deluzio in introducing a resolution marking five years since the Tree of Life synagogue shooting and condemning antisemitism (pressley.house.gov).
  • [Reaction window, 2023-11-14] A House floor speech on antisemitism, Islamophobia and hate on college campuses, posted by Forbes Breaking News with an upload date of 2023-11-14 (video).

### Not on the card, and why

  • Her statements and votes from the weeks after the October 7 attack are recorded above and are not carried on the card.
  • The 2019 vote on H.Res. 246 and the boycott argument around it are about a different question than U.S. weapons and money, so they stay here.
  • The Courthouse News item is not supported by the page it cites, so nothing is built on it.
  • The congress.gov cosponsor list for H.R. 3565 did not open for us, so it is not linked; the card attributes the co-sponsorship to her office.

### Sources retrieved for this card

(https://fmep.org/resource/members-on-the-record-re-ending-aid-to-israel-re-7-15-26-house-vote-on-massie-amendment/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2026/07/16/the-entire-mass-house-delegation-voted-to-cut-israel-aid-heres-what-they-said/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2025-08-12/mass-congressional-delegation-condemns-israels-escalation-in-gaza; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2024-07-24/several-members-of-mass-delegation-to-skip-netanyahus-speech-to-congress; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.dotnews.com/2024/07/25/reps-lynch-pressley-both-skipped-netanyahus-address-congress/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2025/10/07/pressley-marks-two-year-anniversary-of-horrific-october-7th-attack/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2025/01/15/rep-ayanna-pressleys-statement-on-ceasefire-hostage-deal/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2024/11/20/pressleys-statement-on-sen-sanders-joint-resolutions-of-disapproval/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2024/05/02/pressley-joins-jayapal-dean-50-lawmakers-calling-on-admin-to-help-prevent-assault-on-rafah/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2024/04/20/rep-pressleys-statement-on-israel-and-ukraine-foreign-aid-votes/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2024/04/19/pressley-files-amendments-to-surge-global-humanitarian-aid-restrict-offensive-weapons-to-israeli-military/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.legistorm.com/stormfeed/view_rss/2369415/member/3208/title/rep-pressleys-statement-on-israel-and-ukraine-foreign-aid-votes.html; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/massachusetts-lawmakers-boycott-benjamin-netanyahu-congress/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.notus.org/congress/why-did-progressives-leave-rashida-tlaib-to-protest-netanyahu-on-her-own; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.newsweek.com/rashida-tlaib-ayanna-pressley-call-israel-situation-apartheid-funded-us-1591566; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/whats-behind-ayanna-pressleys-anti-bds-vote; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://workingfamilies.org/ceasefire-tracker/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2023/10/25/rep-pressleys-statement-on-h-res-771/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2023/10/27/pressley-lee-colleagues-introduce-resolution-to-honor-victims-of-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-condemn-antisemitism/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2022/06/09/rep-ayanna-pressleys-statement-on-the-mapping-project/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://katherineclark.house.gov/2022/06/13/2022-6-jewish-insider-daily-kickoff/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://forward.com/fast-forward/505739/fbi-mapping-project-boston-bds/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.jta.org/2021/05/27/politics/for-progressive-democrats-the-condemnation-of-antisemitism-is-lumped-in-with-other-forms-of-hate; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://pressley.house.gov/2022/01/20/pressley-massachusetts-delegation-stand-jewish-community/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJk8TV_gcY; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.courthousenews.com/netanyahu-may-ban-visit-from-muslim-u-s-congresswomen/; opened; 2026-09-07)

(https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3565/cosponsors; could not open; 2026-09-07)

All Massachusetts candidates.

But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open Find Your Candidates for votes, funding and contact details.