The resolution was rejected in a voice vote, with the "nays" strong enough to see it struck down. Five abstentions were recorded.
NOTUS reports that, in the wake of the resolution's failure, DNC Chairman Ken Martin announced that he "was forming a task force to continue discussion of the issue, indicating that the committee planned to consider a new resolution about the issue at a later date."
But following the declaration of famine in Gaza, and with US support for Israel clearly violating the country's own laws—including Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which bars the US from providing military aid to countries that are blocking humanitarian aid—the rejection of the resolution incensed its supporters.
Sophia Danenberg, a delegate from Washington state who spoke in favor of the Israeli arms embargo resolution, said she believes Democratic voters "want to hear a louder, stronger statement, and this isn't the time for subtlety."
She acknowledged the atrocities committed by terrorist organization Hamas in its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, but she said that this "does not justify the actions of this right-wing [Israeli] regime—massacring and starving and slaughtering the Palestinian people."
Danenberg added that the DNC could be "losing the future of the Democratic Party by not being courageous" on the issue of Israel's assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 62,819 Palestinians, orphaned tens of thousands of children, and created the world's largest population of child amputees.
Margaret DeReus, the executive director of IMEU Policy Project, was even more scathing in her denunciation of the DNC for voting down the resolution and directly called out the influence of pro-Israel groups that have spent millions to defeat progressives like former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), one of the first Democratic lawmakers to demand a ceasefire after Israel began its assault on Gaza in 2023.
"It's another sign of just how out of touch Democratic Party leadership is today that dark money groups like [Democratic Majority for Israel]—that have spent millions in Democratic primaries to unseat progressives who stand for human rights for all people—were consulted ahead of DNC Chair Ken Martin's decision to introduce his bland resolution, while advocates for Palestinian rights who represent most Democrats were once again shut out and ignored," she said. "Sadly, this has been standard practice for a historically unpopular Democratic leadership that will not win elections until it decides to become a political party that actually listens to its voters."
Organizer Asra Nizami noted that "members acknowledged getting hundreds of calls and emails" about supporting the resolution, but voted it down nonetheless.
"This party keeps digging its own grave. And it's owned by AIPAC," said Nizami, referring to the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which donated more than $24 million to Democratic candidates in 2024.
As Common Dreams reported last month, public support for Israel's US-backed bombardment of Gaza has plummeted in recent months, with just 8% of Democratic voters supporting the action.
Josh Ruebner, IMEU Policy Project's policy director, accused Democrats of being "wildly out of touch with their base who overwhelmingly want to block bombs to Israel and end US complicity in its genocide of Palestinians as shown by poll after poll."
James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI) and former member of the DNC executive committee, told Common Dreams that even though he had lobbied in favor of the resolution calling for the arms embargo, he was still pleased with the outcome of Tuesday's meeting.
The DNC, Zogby said, had a discussion about the issue of Israel-Palestine that he said never heard before. He said that what Ken Martin did by withdrawing his resolution and instead creating a task force to discuss the issue further "remarkable" given the party's historic position.
Zogby credited the heroic efforts by Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old new DNC member from Florida who introduced the arms embargo, for her "incredible work" in bringing people together on the issue, generating many thousands of direct emails and calls to members of the resolution committee. The outcome was not what she and others hoped for, said Zogby, but Martin's decision on the weaker of the two resolutions and the creation of the task force should be seen as a "big deal" and "incredible" progress in the fight for Palestinian rights inside the party.
