Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both Democratic Georgia senators, are facing a backlash from the Atlanta-area Jewish community over their votes to halt certain arms sales to Israel on Wednesday.
AIPAC, the Atlanta JCRC and the local Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee chapters joined 46 other Jewish organizations, including more than 20 Atlanta synagogues, in a letter to the senators on Thursday condemning their votes.
“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,” they added. “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.”
Warnock is a Baptist pastor, who has drawn criticism for defending antisemites. Ossoff is Jewish.
The two 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,” the groups wrote in the letter.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced procedural motions in the Senate on Wednesday to force the release of three resolutions that 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 of the votes in favor of the Sanders legislation coming from Democrats.
Warnock voted in favor of all three motions. Ossoff voted to cut off the sales of tank shells and mortar rounds. (JNS sought comment from both senators.)
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 for 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,” he said.
“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,” Wilker added. “It makes us question, what does the future hold for the U.S.-Israel relationship?”
Ossoff defended his votes on the Senate floor on Thursday.
“American support for Israel’s non-negotiable right to exist and to defend itself is rock solid,” he said. “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, who won election in a 2021 runoff by just 60,000 votes, faces re-election in 2026. Warnock will next face re-election in 2028.
“Even Reform synagogues and stridently left-wing Jewish organizations slamming Georgia’s senators,” wrote Jesse Arm, of the Manhattan Institute, sharing the letter to the senators.
“Secular Jews are one of the most progressive voting blocs in the United States, but even they support the Jewish state. There’s a limit to the Israel-bashing they’ll tolerate,” Arm added. “Stick a fork in Ossoff in 2026.”
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.”
(JNS)