Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), one of just seven Senate Democrats to vote last week against resolutions to block U.S. arms sales to Israel, said that he wants to maintain and restore bipartisan support for Israel.

“An overriding goal that has been one of my most profound concerns since coming to the United States Senate is to preserve bipartisan support for Israel,” Blumenthal told Jewish Insider in a brief interview on Wednesday. “I partnered with [former Sen.] John McCain (R-AZ) on traveling to the Middle East and to Israel a number of times. He believed powerfully, as I do, that the cause of Israel’s security has to be bipartisan, and I will adhere to that goal as long as I’m in this body.”

Asked how that support on the Democratic side can be restored, he said that he doesn’t have a silver bullet, but he’s “going to work at it every day,” reaching out to colleagues on both sides of the aisle, even those who disagree with him, to work on the issue and travel to the region.

“I will take advantage of every opportunity to make sure that we are as bipartisan as possible, and I resent and oppose anyone who tries to use Israel as a wedge issue politically,” he said. “We need to make decisions on the merits of our own national interests and security.”

He said that he has family in Israel and in the IDF, but his support for Israel comes from it being one of the U.S.’ closest allies and the U.S.-Israel relationship being “vital to our own national security” through military cooperation, intelligence sharing and technological, academic and educational cooperation.

“My argument to my colleagues is that Israel is an ally in a dangerous world,” he continued.

He said he’s also working “fervently” toward normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, a goal he said was “very close” prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

“But it’s a very powerful, long-range dynamic that serves everyone’s interests, including our own,” Blumenthal said, describing normalization as an issue that “could bring us together again, to more robust bipartisan support.”

Asked during a Tuesday press conference about the anti-Israel shift in the Democratic Party, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), another one of the seven Democrats who opposed the effort to block weapons sales, pivoted to discussing the war in Iran.

“Our caucus is united and focused on ending the war in Iran,” Schumer responded.