Scoop: Senate Democrats’ first major anti-Israel vote is a political liability for 2026: “Senate Democrats hate Netanyahu”
Top Republicans tell us that Senate Democrats are going to regret one of their first actions being an unpopular anti-Israel vote; here's why.
Senate Democrats tanked a bipartisan bill to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week, the latest move to signify the Democratic party’s dramatic break with America’s closest ally. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) was the only Senate Democrat who voted to advance the measure that would punish the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Republicans have slammed Democrats who quashed the bill, and predict that the vote will be politically painful for Democrats come 2026. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and her first major move in that role was to “collect[] Democrats against a pro-Israel bill,” a Republican strategist noted to the Washington Reporter.
Democrats, who controlled the Senate until earlier this month, could have revised and forced a vote on the ICC sanctions bill last year. They “could have gutted the whole thing using amendments in [the Foreign Relations Committee] but they were too scared and wouldn’t let us do anything,” one GOP staffer familiar with the bill told the Reporter.
Former Sen. Scott Brown, who Republicans are courting as Shaheen’s top challenger, told the Reporter that “it’s just another vote that shows how out of touch our New Hampshire delegation is and how out of touch the Democrats are as a whole.”
Brown, a decorated Army veteran who served as an ambassador during President Donald Trump’s first term, said that “Senator Fetterman has turned out to be the real leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate and he recognizes that Israel is a strong ally that needs our support and to compare the response by Israel to the brutality of Hamas shows how out of touch they are and once again shows the true anti-Israel colors of the Democratic Party. Time for change.”
Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) echoed Brown’s remarks.
“New Hampshire deserves a leader in the U.S. Senate who stands with our allies and Jewish Americans across the country,” NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia told the Reporter. “Instead, Jeanne Shaheen has aligned herself with antisemitic terrorist sympathizers at the corrupt ICC.”
A Senate GOP aide had previously told the Reporter that “Shaheen and other Senate Dems on SFRC are pushing to amend the ICC bill. It’s a Microsoft-backed effort, because Microsoft thinks that the bill could result in them being sanctioned because they provide internet services to the ICC. The bill would not do that, they’re idiots, but they’re being abundantly cautious and trying to use the Democrats to water down the bill.”
Following the vote, that Senate source told the Reporter that “Senate Democrats hate Netanyahu and were looking for a reason to vote no. The trumped up Microsoft argument was their excuse.”
“Senate Democrats spent all week searching for an excuse to tank this bill and back the broken ICC, and they found that excuse in the ridiculous argument that the bill could somehow lead to American companies, like Microsoft, being sanctioned,” said another GOP Senate aide privy to conversations on the bill. “The bill only empowers the President to impose sanctions on foreign persons — Microsoft is not a ‘foreign person,’ and Chuck Schumer, who whipped against the bill, knows that.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) called Schumer a disgrace following the vote. “He often calls himself ‘shomer’ — defender of the Jewish people,” Lawler said. “He is in fact a ‘Shonda’ — a disgrace.”
Another Democrat who is up in 2026 drew eyes for not voting at all. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.) missed the vote because he was sick, according to his office; his office did not respond to a request for comment on how he would have voted on the measure.
One Georgia Republican strategist told the Reporter that “the saddest part about Jon Ossoff being ‘sick’ for this vote is that no one has any doubt how he would’ve voted if he had decided to actually show up and do his job on Tuesday. It’s amazing that after their November wipeout, some Democrats like Ossoff are still trying to curry favor with the pro-Hamas wing of their party. Maybe he’ll learn after more of the same in 2026.”
Freshman Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) and Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) also voted “no” on ICC sanctions. Both Slotkin and Gallego won hotly-contested races in 2024 and voted for the same bill as members of the House of Representatives. To many in the pro-Israel community, their votes are inexcusable.
“Senate Democrats’ decision to block sanctions against the out-of-control ICC is dangerous, and their last-minute excuses are pathetic,” Sam Markstein, the national political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) told the Reporter. “Senators Slotkin and Gallego’s votes against this bill are particularly shameful, as they previously voted for the same bill when they were in the House of Representatives. Michigan and Arizona are home to thousands of proud, patriotic servicemembers who would have been protected from being persecuted by the corrupt International Criminal Court, but Slotkin and Gallego instead caved to special interests.”