But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check
Alani Bankhead
Democrat · U.S. Senate, Montana
✓OpposesFrom their own words
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.
No recorded votes on the bills we track. In their own words on July 13, 2026.
Bankhead's campaign platform says "American help was meant to protect people, not to underwrite an assault on civilians", and calls for the U.S. to "stop helping fund a catastrophe" in Gaza. She heads the section "Not our wars" and cites the ICC's war-crimes charge against Israel's prime minister.
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Bankhead is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and former federal special agent. Her position is set out at length in her own words in her 2026 candidate platform, under the heading "Israel & Palestine", and it is specific about money: "My quarrel is with a government's actions and the American dollars underwriting them, not the people of Israel." She closes it: "it is our role to stop a genocide and to stop helping fund a catastrophe. These aren't our wars."
She grounds the characterization in legal findings rather than her own words, citing the International Criminal Court's charge against Israel's prime minister of war crimes including starvation as a method of warfare, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars' finding that the Israeli government's conduct in Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
She raises her own professional history with Israeli forces herself, and uses it as the ground of her argument rather than treating it as a complication: "I've worked alongside Israeli forces, and I've always stood for humanitarian aid, which is why I can say this plainly." A July 2026 newsletter surfaced warmer remarks about the IDF and Mossad from her own podcast; on the platform text she volunteers the same history without prompting.
She also separates the argument from antisemitism explicitly: "Criticizing a government is no attack on its people, and it has nothing to do with anyone's faith. If someone wants to attack a person because they're Jewish, I will be there to stop it."
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 2026-07-13) from the five lobbying groups we track; earlier cycles and earmarked donations not yet tracked.
Support-only OpenFEC data. Opposition independent expenditures are excluded.
In their words
“American help was meant to protect people, not to underwrite an assault on civilians. My quarrel is with a government's actions — and the American dollars underwriting them — not the people of Israel.”
“It isn't America's role to dictate a solution half a world away — but it is our role to stop a genocide and to stop helping fund a catastrophe. These aren't our wars.”
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
2026 [Current position; VERIFIED VERBATIM 2026-08-11 against the live page]: Her Ballotpedia candidate platform heads its Israel and Palestine section "Not our wars — stop underwriting the suffering in Gaza" and states: "American help was meant to protect people, not to underwrite an assault on civilians. My quarrel is with a government's actions — and the American dollars underwriting them — not the people of Israel." It closes: "It isn't America's role to dictate a solution half a world away — but it is our role to stop a genocide and to stop helping fund a catastrophe. These aren't our wars."
2026 [Current position; same source]: "I've worked alongside Israeli forces, and I've always stood for humanitarian aid — which is why I can say this plainly". She volunteers her professional history with Israeli forces as the basis of the position rather than as a qualification of it.
2026 [Current position; VERIFIED VERBATIM]: Cites the ICC's charge against Israel's prime minister of war crimes "including starvation as a method of warfare", and the International Association of Genocide Scholars' finding that the Israeli government's conduct in Gaza "meets the legal definition of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity". Note the correction: an earlier version of this record said "Israel's leadership"; the page says prime minister.
2026 [Current position; same source]: "Tens of thousands are dead, a majority of them women and children, and Gaza now holds the largest number of child amputees in modern history."
2026-07-15 [Current position; adversarial source page, broken transcription]: A Substack newsletter reported remarks from her own Humble Warrior Podcast: "I know that Israel's pretty hated in that region, but in terms of the offensive capabilities that they're using to create all this chaos, I absolutely – and I've worked with the Israeli Defense Force, the IDF guys and Mossad, I love them to pieces". The sentence breaks mid-clause and the underlying episode was not located, so it is not quoted on the card. It is no longer treated as a contradiction: her own platform volunteers the same professional history.
Rhetoric and lobbying
Undated [campaign social media; money-refusal pledge, NOT a weapons position]: A campaign Facebook post states the campaign takes no PAC, AIPAC or dark money. Per the standing content rule a money-refusal pledge is never rendered as a position on U.S. weapons or funding.
2026 [Current position; VERIFIED VERBATIM]: "Criticizing a government is no attack on its people, and it has nothing to do with anyone's faith. If someone wants to attack a person because they're Jewish, I will be there to stop it. Antisemitism is evil, and the safety of Jewish people everywhere is non-negotiable."
What came back empty or unusable
No separate statement located on UNRWA or on Gaza humanitarian funding as a budget line, distinct from her general call to stop funding the campaign.
The podcast video an initial search attached does not lead to the episode containing the IDF and Mossad remarks.
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.
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