When Jon Ossoff was elected to the US Senate in 2021, he became the first Jewish senator from Georgia, and the first from the Deep South since 1885. During his campaign, he declared himself “strongly committed to Israel’s security as a homeland for the Jewish people.” This commitment is in line with the overwhelming consensus of American Jews and is the majority opinion among Americans as a whole.
Ossoff’s recent vote to ban specific arms sales to Israel during its ongoing battle against the Iranian hegemony marks a disgraceful reversal of that promise. As Israel faces one of the most serious, multi-front threats in recent memory, the senator’s decision to vote against supporting Israeli military needs was not only a betrayal of his previous stance but also an affront to the Jewish community of Georgia.
The context of Ossoff’s vote cannot be overstated. Israel is currently engaged in one of its most critical and complex wars. While Israel has always faced threats from groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, the situation today is on a larger scale, and more complicated. Hamas continues to hold hostages, including American citizens. By failing to assist Israel in its battle to win the war, Sen. Ossoff is betraying those held captive.
Israel relies on the United States as a key ally to ensure it has the military resources to defend itself. The US has historically been Israel’s primary supplier of critical weaponry that helps safeguard Israeli civilians and defend its borders. Ossoff’s vote against such sales – especially while Israel is under attack – sends a disturbing message to both his Jewish constituents and to Israel’s enemies. It is not unpopular to want this war to end soon, but by attempting to kneecap Israel’s ability to buy arms from the United States, the senator is only prolonging the war. The end to the war comes when Israel wins it, when the hostages are released, and Hamas is no longer a functioning group in the region.
With the Republicans sweeping the November elections, and Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office, the votes against aiding Israel become a moot point. Trump has already threatened that there will be “hell to pay” if Hamas does not release the hostages soon.
As Trump puts together seemingly the most pro-Israel administration in recent years ahead of his inauguration on January 20, it becomes curious as to why Sen. Ossoff would cast a performative vote, knowing it would upset his Jewish constituents, the very people who supported him.
Why did Jon Ossoff vote against Israel?
During his Senate campaign, Ossoff consistently portrayed himself as a staunch ally of Israel. His public statements indicated that he recognized the importance of Israel’s security and was committed to strengthening the US-Israel relationship. As a Jewish candidate, Ossoff was keenly aware of the concerns of Jewish voters, particularly those who consider Israel’s survival and defense as central to Jewish identity.
However, Ossoff’s vote to restrict arms sales to Israel in the midst of a defensive war is a stark and troubling departure from those commitments. While he has been careful to justify his position, the reality of Israel’s defensive needs makes it clear that his decision is an ideological shift. A kowtow to the progressive strain of antisemitism sweeping through the Democrat party.
For Ossoff, who made history as the first Jewish senator from Georgia, this vote is a personal betrayal of the very community that supported him. His decision has alienated many in the Jewish community in Georgia, with the Atlanta Jewish Times running an article titled “Ossoff Has Fences to Mend,” with mention of an open letter signed by 47 Jewish organizations in the state, claiming representation of 90% of Georgia Jews.
JNS reported that AIPAC, the Atlanta JCRC, the local Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Committee chapters joined 46 other Jewish organizations in a letter to Ossoff and his fellow Democratic senator in Georgia, Raphael Warnock, who is a Baptist pastor, condemning their vote.
“Your vote demonstrates that your commitment to Israel’s security is not ironclad,” the organizations wrote. “It comes at the expense of Israeli defense. It not only emboldens Iran and its proxies, it also stands in sharp contrast to the many expressions of support for Israel you have made. Your vote does nothing to return Israel’s displaced persons from the North and the South, secure the release of the hostages, nor protect innocent Israeli or Palestinian lives.”
The two Democratic senators voted in a way that “provides cover for those who seek to harm the Jews around the world,” which “further fuels the increase in antisemitism that has been surging in our communities and on college campuses,” they added.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured an op-ed signed by 22 Georgia rabbis denouncing Senators Ossoff and Warnock, writing that they “demonstrated a failure to hear your Jewish constituents... showed indifference to the pro-Israel community while granting approval to fringe voices,” and “sided with often fanatical and uncompromising organizations and individuals.”
By voting to restrict arms sales to Israel during its time of greatest need, Ossoff has broken faith with the Jewish constituency that trusted him to protect Israel’s right to self-defense. Esther Panitch, a Democrat who is the only Jewish state representative in Georgia, wrote that she “cannot overstate how upset Georgia’s Jewish community – especially Democrats – is with our senators.”
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced procedural motions in the US Senate on November 20, 2024, to force the release of three resolutions he sponsored expressing congressional disapproval for the sale of tank shells, high-explosive mortar rounds, and joint direct attack munition bombs and guidance kits. The motions failed 18-79, 19-78, and 17-80, respectively, with all the votes in favor of the Sanders legislation coming from Democrats.
Warnock voted in favor of all three motions, while Ossoff voted to cut off the sales of tank shells and mortar rounds. Dov Wilker, the regional director of the AJC’s Atlanta office, told JNS that “to say it was disappointing would be an understatement.”
“At a time like this, these votes send a message that is concerning to the Jewish community about how our senators think about safety and security for the State of Israel,” Wilker said. “For the Jewish community and the pro-Israel community, the most important thing at this moment is the continued support for the State of Israel, especially from the United States.”
Wilker added: “We see the actions of the International Criminal Court, and we see some of the stances being made by other countries, like the prime minister of Canada, and then we see senators in the United States supporting resolutions that would cease sales of specific types of arms to Israel. It makes us question, what does the future hold for the US-Israel relationship?”
Ossoff defended his votes on the Senate floor, saying: “American support for Israel’s non-negotiable right to exist and to defend itself is rock solid. Had these resolutions passed, however, perhaps Israeli politicians would have received the necessary message that has so far been disregarded, which is, ‘Yes, defend yourself. Yes, defeat your enemies,’ but have mercy for the innocent, restrain your own extremists, and respect the interests of the United States.”
Ossoff also told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was “actively seeking opportunities” to find common ground with Trump and other Republicans. But he said he won’t hesitate to oppose Trump if he flouts Georgia’s interests. Ossoff, who won a 2021 runoff by just 60,000 votes, faces re-election in 2026.
Following the 1976 Operation Thunderbolt, colloquially called the Raid on Entebbe, which claimed the life of Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother Yonatan, Netanyahu moved back to Israel and became a political mainstay for the next five decades. Prior to his move back to Israel, Netanyahu appeared on local Boston television, making the case for United States support for Israel while also opining on why the conflict persists. In this appearance, the future prime minister said that “for 20 years, the Arabs had both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and if self-determination, as they now say, is the core of the conflict, they could have easily established a Palestinian state.”
In a fact sheet produced by Jewish Dems prior to the 2020 election, Ossoff said he supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The senator’s insistence on a two-state solution, and his continued support of it following the October 7 attacks by Hamas, only serve to further Iran and its proxies’ hold out on surrendering and incentivize future attacks on Israel. Believing that a two-state solution would solve the conflict is asinine and untethered to the reality of the situation today. Pulling from the aforementioned Netanyahu quotation, if Palestinian statehood is truly what the conflict is over, then the Arab world is to blame, not Israel.
In the world’s most unstable region, as Netanyahu said in the same television appearance, “Israel is the one stable, democratic ally that the United States can count on.” By attempting to weaken Israel, Ossoff does the bidding of America’s enemies and works against America’s interests in the region. As a Jew, Ossoff provides cover for the anti-Israel movement to hide behind the claim of being anti-Israel, or anti-Zionist, as opposed to what they really are – antisemitic. ■
Harry Paul is a graduate of Oglethorpe University, with a bachelor’s degree in politics. He currently works in political fundraising in Denver. JNS contributed to this article.