Bill Hagerty

Hagerty proposed moving U.S. assistance earmarked for Gaza into replenishing Israel's Iron Dome interceptors. He has voted against every resolution that would have blocked a U.S. arms sale to the government of Israel, and against the 2024 supplemental that carried aid to it.

Hagerty is Tennessee's junior senator, seeking a second term, and sits on the Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees. He was ambassador to Japan before that.

The clearest statement of what he wants American money to do is his own. In an op-ed published by his office in May 2021 he set out a bill that would take money already assigned to Gaza and spend it on Israeli missile defense instead: "My bill would authorize the Biden administration to transfer funds from U.S. assistance that the Biden administration has earmarked for Hamas-controlled Gaza, and instead redirect this money to replenish the expensive Iron Dome interceptors used to shoot down Hamas' Iranian rockets." That is both halves of this site's question in one sentence, and he has stayed on that line since.

He has kept working the funding channel at the United Nations. In 2024 he co-sponsored a bill to cut U.S. money to United Nations bodies that upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority or the Palestine Liberation Organization, and in 2025 he was one of twenty-four Republicans introducing a bill to cut U.S. funding to any United Nations agency that restricts Israel's participation.

His votes are on this card and they need reading carefully, because they point two ways. On every attempt to block a specific U.S. arms sale to the government of Israel he voted against blocking it. Those sales were 120-millimetre tank rounds, high-explosive mortar rounds and JDAM bomb guidance kits in November 2024, roughly $8.8 billion of bombs and guidance kits in April 2025 including $2.04 billion of 2,000-pound bombs, 1,000-pound bombs with JDAM kits and automatic rifles in July 2025, and armoured bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs in April 2026, by which date the Gaza health ministry had reported 72,344 people killed, 20,179 of them children. On the one occasion the Senate took up the combined national security package that carried military aid to that government alongside aid to Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific, on April 23, 2024, he voted no. Nothing located explains the second vote, and this card does not guess at it.

Tracked votes: backed sending U.S. weapons or funding to the government of Israel in 9 of 10 recorded votes.

Research

U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel

[Prior, 2021-05-20] Op-ed published by his own office, dated on the page and read and confirmed word for word: "I will soon introduce legislation for the United States to help Israel resupply its Iron Dome missile and rocket defense systems that have saved the lives of countless Israeli civilians who have been the targets of Palestinian rockets. My bill would authorize the Biden administration to transfer funds from U.S. assistance that the Biden administration has earmarked for Hamas-controlled Gaza, and instead redirect this money to replenish the expensive Iron Dome interceptors used to shoot down Hamas' Iranian rockets." And: "If President Biden does not change his dangerous course in the region, and quickly, then it will be incumbent on Congress to act for him." Direction named in both halves: more American money to Israeli missile defense, less to Gaza.
[Position, 2024 to 2026] Recorded votes against every motion to discharge a resolution disapproving a U.S. arms sale or defense export to the government of Israel, across four voting days, each cross-checked against the official roll call, for example S.J.Res. 111 and S.J.Res. 138. The card renders them; the prose does not re-list them or restate the tallies.
[Position, 2024-04-23] Voted against the national security supplemental, the combined vehicle that carried military aid to the government of Israel (roll call). Also a badge. No explanation from him is recorded on this record, and a fresh search of the open record did not find one, so the card states the vote and the silence and does not guess at the reason.
[Unconfirmed, 2024-05-06] A fresh search reported him calling reports of a delayed ammunition shipment "quite disturbing if true" on a business news channel. The only carrier is a video page with no readable transcript; the phrase is not quoted here.
[Reaction window, 2023-12-24] Reported as saying the United States was sending mixed messages by calling for ceasefires while supplying weapons (Washington Examiner). Off the card (C1).

U.S. aid to Palestinians

[Position, 2024-05-09] Co-sponsored a bill to cut off U.S. funding to United Nations bodies that grant enhanced status to the Palestinian Authority or the Palestine Liberation Organization beyond observer status (the lead sponsor's release).
[Position, 2025-04-30] One of twenty-four Republican senators introducing a bill to cut off U.S. funding to United Nations agencies that expel, downgrade, suspend or restrict Israel's participation (Foreign Relations Committee release, which names him among the introducers).
[Reaction window, 2023-12-15] Co-introduced a bill to withhold U.S. funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees unless the State Department certified no connection to anti-Israel extremism (his release). Off the card (C1): dated inside the reaction window. The 2021 op-ed above carries the same direction from outside it, which is why the card can state it.
[Reaction window, 2023-10-31] Questioned the secretary of state at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing about whether American aid in Gaza had been diverted. Off the card (C1); the only carrier is a video page.

Characterization of the conflict

[Prior, 2021-05-20] From the op-ed above: he calls Israel America's strongest Middle Eastern ally and describes the rockets as Iranian.
[Position, 2025-09-23] Reported as arguing on a business news channel against Western recognition of a Palestinian state under current conditions. The only carrier is a video page with no readable transcript; nothing is quoted.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

[Prior, 2021-10-26] Led thirty-six Senate Republicans in introducing a bill to block the opening of a separate U.S. consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem (his release).
[Prior, 2023-05-19] Co-sponsored a bill to let state and local governments restrict contracts with entities that boycott Israel (the lead sponsors' release).
Republican Jewish Coalition support is a badge on this card and is not restated.

Safety and antisemitism (context)

[Position, 2024-05-04] Backed stripping federal funding from universities that allow antisemitic harassment at protests, telling a business news program it was "a top-of-mind issue" and that campuses "have really just let things run wild" (Washington Examiner, read and confirmed).
[Reaction window, 2023-11-30] Joined a letter urging the Department of Education to use civil rights enforcement against antisemitism in schools (committee release). Off the card (C1).
[Prior, 2021-05-25] Co-sponsored a Senate resolution condemning antisemitic violence (his release).

Race and status context

Incumbent senator seeking re-election, per Ballotpedia's race page.
Provenance note: this record's summary is a description of his roll-call votes and nothing else. Everything above beyond the votes comes from the fresh research round and was opened and read for this pass.
Source note: the two congress.gov interface addresses on this record, for his member entry and for a cosponsor roster, return a refusal to any reader without a key. They are provenance for the identity join and are not linked anywhere on this card.