United States Congressional Resolutions on Israel-Hamas War
This is an updated version of a prior article.
Large majorities of members in both houses of the United States Congress, including all Senators, have expressed support for Israel in the ongoing war with Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups using simple resolutions. Although these resolutions are entirely symbolic, as they do not have the force of law, they do express the beliefs of individual members who support them, and the collective view of the entire House or Senate when passed.
Unless otherwise stated, all data in this article are from GovTrack.us and are current as of October 20, 2023.
Senate
The Senate has passed S.Res. 417, “A resolution standing with Israel against terrorism,” unanimously. The vote passed 97-0 with three Senators absent, but all 100 senators sponsored or cosponsored the resolution. (The three who were absent are simply listed as “Not voting” on GovTrack, but the Congressional Record for October 19 indicates that they were “necessarily absent.”) The resolution was introduced by Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.
House of Representatives
A new article on a House resolution regarding the war is available.
Two resolutions have been introduced into the House of Representatives to support Israel, and another calls for a ceasefire without expressly supporting either side. None of the resolutions have been voted on at this time, because the House cannot do normal business until it elects a replacement for former Speaker McCarthy, who was recently removed.
H.Res. 768, entitled “Standing with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists,” has 382 sponsors, comprising 88% of the House; this includes 197 Republicans, or 89% of the party, and 185 Democrats, or 87%. (Sponsorship counts include both the bills' primary sponsors and their cosponsors.) The primary sponsor is Representative Michael McCaul, who represents Texas's 10th congressional district. Representative McCaul is a Republican.
H.Res. 770, entitled “Condemning an act of war against Israel by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and associated forces, and for other purposes,” has 44 sponsors, or 10% of the House. 32 Republicans, 14% of the party, and 12 Democrats, 6% of the party, sponsor this resolution. H.Res. 770 was introduced by Republican Representative Zach Nunn, representing Iowa's 3rd congressional district.
A total of 387 representatives (89% of the House), including 201 Republicans (91% of the party) and 186 Democrats (88% of the party) have sponsored one or both of the resolutions supporting Israel.
H.Res. 786, “Calling for an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine”, has 17 sponsors, all Democrats, making up 4% of the entire House and 8% of Democrats. This resolution was introduced by Representative Cori Bush, who represents Missouri's 1st congressional district. Although it does not explicitly support Palestine or oppose Israel, the use of the phrase “occupied Palestine” in the title could be seen as loaded language against Israel.
Eight Democrats have cosponsored one or both pro-Israel resolutions as well as H.Res. 786. They make up 2% of the House and 4% of their party.
In the map below, congressional districts whose representatives have sponsored one or both of the pro-Israel resolutions and not the pro-ceasefire resolution are green, while the districts of those who have sponsored only the pro-ceasefire resolution are red. Districts of representatives who sponsored both the pro-ceasefire resolution and at least one of the pro-Israel resolutions are blue, and vacant districts and those whose representatives have not sponsored any of the resolutions are light gray. Click the map for a higher-resolution downloadable version.
United States Congressional Resolutions on Israel-Hamas War by Samuel Sloniker, including map created with MapChart, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
