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

Ilhan Omar

Democrat · U.S. House, Minnesota District 5
✓Supported sending weapons or funding in 0 of 6 tracked votes

Omar voted against every aid bill and for both amendments to cut aid to Israel, and has sought since 2019 to halt U.S. aid until Palestinians have full rights. In 2021 she opposed an arms sale during Gaza fighting; her 2019 lobby-money remarks drew antisemitism accusations she apologized for.

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Deep Dive

Omar has represented Minnesota’s 5th District since 2019 and holds a restriction-side record on every vote we track: No on all four aid bills, Yes on both amendments to cut aid to Israel.

Her position predates the war: in August 2019 she said the U.S. should suspend military aid until Israel grants Palestinians full equal rights, per the Times of Israel. In May 2021, during that year’s fighting, she opposed a proposed weapons sale: "The United States should not stand idly by while crimes against humanity are being committed with our backing." In April 2024 she joined the 56-Democrat letter urging withheld offensive transfers; her own November 2023 resolution to block a bomb-assembly sale is on the research page, as do her October 2023 statements.

Her 2019 remarks about lobby money ("It’s all about the Benjamins baby") drew bipartisan accusations of invoking antisemitic tropes; her apology, verified: "Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes." A 2012 post saying Israel had "hypnotized the world" she later called unfortunate phrasing. Her statement on the 2023 two-state resolution supports "explicitly and affirmatively rejecting xenophobia and antisemitism" while arguing that "conflating antisemitism with criticism of the Israeli government is wrong" and citing rights groups’ apartheid findings as her frame for the occupation.

Her April 2024 remarks while visiting the Columbia encampment, and the dispute over how they characterized Jewish students, rest on a stub page and stay on the research page as reported, with the dispute attributed.

The record

Supported sending weapons or funding in 0 of 6 tracked votes · Backs 1 of 1 tracked bills to restrict weapons transfers

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 Yes
voted to limit or block 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 against sending weapons or funding in every recorded tracked vote. (Supported sending weapons or funding in 0 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 should not stand idly by while crimes against humanity are being committed with our backing.”
Source ↗, 2021-05-17
“Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
Source ↗, 2019-02-11
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.

U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel

  • Her recorded votes appear as badges on this card: No on H.R. 6126, H.R. 8034, H.R. 8369, and H.R. 7217; Yes on the amendment to cut $500 million for Israeli missile-defense programs; Yes on the 2026 amendment to cut $3.3 billion from aid to Israel.
  • [Position, 2019-08-20] The suspend-aid position, verified by the Times of Israel’s report.
  • [Position, 2021-05-17] The arms-sale opposition, verified on her own site and quoted in the deep dive.
  • [Action, 2024-04-09] The withheld-transfers letter, verified by page.
  • [Position, 2021-09-24] Her criticism of the $1 billion Iron Dome replenishment bill; news carriers, reported, not confirmed directly.
  • Her November 16, 2023 blocking resolution and October 9, 2023 statements are not on the card summary.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Her equal-rights conditioning frame above carries this section; no separate program position located.

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2021-05-19] Her characterization of airstrikes killing civilians as an act of terrorism, with her office’s clarification; news carriers, reported, not confirmed directly.
  • Her October-November 2023 characterizations (collective punishment, war-crime, genocide-risk warnings) are not on the card summary.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

  • [Episode, 2019-02] The Benjamins remark, the bipartisan criticism, and the apology, verified; the trope accusations are the critics’, the apology is hers.
  • [Episode, 2021-05] Her staff’s response to AIPAC ads linking her image to rocket attacks; the accusation of anti-Muslim targeting is hers, the ads are AIPAC’s; reported, not confirmed directly.

Safety and antisemitism

  • [Position, 2023-07] The H.Con.Res. 57 statement, verified and quoted in the deep dive; pre-window.
  • [Reported, 2024-04-28] The Columbia-visit remarks on Jewish students’ safety and the dispute over her phrasing; the offered page is a stub, so the remarks are unquoted and the competing characterizations are attributed to their makers.

Sources retrieved for this card

Race and status context

  • Sitting member, nominated. Her Republican challenger’s card carries its own record.

Also in this race

  1. ? John Nagel (Republican)
  2. – DeVelle Jackson (Independent)

All Minnesota 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.