In a letter to constituents who reached out to her office about last month’s Senate votes on resolutions that would have blocked some shipments of U.S. aid to Israel, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanuyahu and the Israeli government while also arguing that the resolutions would have created more challenges and done nothing to address issues on the ground.

The letter, which was obtained by JI, highlights that even some Democrats, such as Duckworth, who voted against blocking aid, harbor a deep degree of anger and frustration toward the Israeli government. Nineteen senators voted for one of the three resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), which pertained to mortar rounds, tank rounds and bomb guidance kits.

Duckworth, a military veteran who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has a sizable Jewish constituency inside her state. Constituents who support Israel and opposed the resolutions were among those who received the letter, which includes strident criticisms of Israeli war operations.

Duckworth wrote that she is “disgusted with the extreme Netanyahu government’s brutal prosecution of its war in Gaza, its callous failure to prioritize securing the release of all remaining hostages and its outrageous refusal to act with urgency and seriousness to alleviate a dire humanitarian crisis.”

She added that she had “serious questions” about the administration’s assessments that the Israeli government is complying with U.S. foreign assistance law requiring aid recipients to facilitate humanitarian access.

“The Israeli government is not truly listening to the voices of doctors, nurses and aid workers on the ground, and that is why I am also working to force Israeli officials to take seriously the specific, real world barriers these brave individuals are experiencing when trying to enter Gaza,” Duckworth said.

She told constituents that she’s working to facilitate discussions between Israeli officials and humanitarian workers who have been on the ground in Gaza and “demanding progress” on specific steps to correct reported issues in humanitarian aid.

But, she continued, she was concerned that the resolutions, if they passed, could have subjected U.S. troops in the region to greater threat from Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

“The outrageous actions of the extreme Netanyahu government will never override my commitment to making sure the U.S. Armed Forces can rely on allied and partner forces equipped with interoperable platforms that enable effective joint operations and deter our adversaries from attacking U.S. servicemembers,” Duckworth said.

Duckworth described the resolutions as purely “symbolic,” and said that they would not have helped produce a cease-fire or release hostages. 

Rather, she said, passing the resolutions would have disincentivized Hamas and Hezbollah from agreeing to cease-fires and reinforced their view that civilian casualties are “a necessary sacrifice to damage Israel’s international reputation and irrevocably harm the U.S.-Israeli alliance.”

She said that the resolutions also would not have had the intended effects of pressuring or constraining Israel to increase humanitarian access, lift its ban on the U.N. Relief and Works Agency or limit Israeli operations in Gaza, adding that the tank and mortar rounds wouldn’t have been delivered for two or more years.

Duckworth offered a specific rejection of the third resolution, regarding bomb guidance kits, arguing that blocking such technology “would likely increase the magnitude of civilian deaths in Gaza and Lebanon” by making Israel “more reliant on inaccurate unguided munitions and ground-launched munitions.”

The Illinois senator added that Iranian attacks on Israel, which U.S. and Israeli forces worked together to counter, illustrated “the importance of facilitating foreign military sales to allies, even when we strongly disagree with the policies and actions of our ally’s democratically-elected government.”

Duckworth said that cooperation prevented further escalation that could have led to a wider regional war.

Duckworth’s office did not respond to a request for comment.