According to a poll released by the Eurasia Group Foundation (EGF) on 5 October, the majority of young people surveyed in the US, aged 18 to 29, are opposed to the continued supply of US weapons to Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The fifth annual survey by the EGF interviewed around 2,000 US citizens of voting age in August, revealing that the majority of the respondents were supportive of reducing US military activity and boosting diplomatic efforts when it came to international issues.

The poll suggests that around 70 percent of US citizens were not in favor of continuing arms sales to Riyadh, the largest importer of US weapons. Of that 70 percent, 35 percent said that they were “strongly” against it. The main reason behind this was the use of US manufactured weaponry in Saudi Arabia’s war crimes against Yemen.

Respondents were more divided, however, when it came to the question of arms sales to Israel. 28.6 percent agreed somewhat while 24 percent agreed strongly with providing Tel Aviv with weapons. On the other hand, 26.4 disagreed somewhat while 21 percent disagreed strongly.

Nonetheless, a majority of those aged 18 to 29 were against continuing US arms sales to Israel, citing Israeli human rights violations and the “enduring occupation of Palestine.”

“If you are 29 right now, you came of voting age towards the end of the Obama years … You saw the Iraq surge. You’ve seen pushes in Afghanistan that haven’t worked. You’ve just seen the limits of American power,” Zuri Linetsky, an EGF researcher said, suggesting that young people in the US are aware of the failure of their country’s military expeditions and policies across the globe.

The US is the world’s leading weapons exporter, selling arms to 96 countries in the four-year span between 2016 and 2020.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on 2 September that the US has begun a widescale campaign to hasten arms sales to its allies in a bid to compete with other world powers, and to replenish the stockpiles of countries that have provided Ukraine with weapons and military equipment.

As part of this recent push, the government of US President Joe Biden approved nearly $20 billion worth of arms deals between mid-July and early August, with a third of those sales headed to countries in West Asia.

This includes a staggering $5.3 billion in potential arms deals with both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, approved by the White House on 2 August.