Mike Rounds

In May 2022, Rounds and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand led a bipartisan group of 44 senators calling for $500 million to fully fund U.S.-Israel cooperative missile-defense programs, including Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow 2, and Arrow 3.

After Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, Rounds and Senator Jacky Rosen urged the Defense Department to transfer two unused U.S.-owned Iron Dome batteries to Israel. Later that month, the Pentagon announced that both systems would be transferred; Rounds said the systems would help Israel protect civilians from Hamas rocket attacks and potential threats from Hezbollah.

In April 2024, Rounds voted for H.R. 815, the national-security supplemental package. His office said the measure included $26.4 billion for Israel and humanitarian assistance, including $4 billion for Iron Dome and other missile-defense systems and $1.2 billion for Iron Beam; the Senate passed the package 79-18.

On April 15, 2026, Rounds voted against motions to discharge S.J. Res. 32 and S.J. Res. 138, which would have advanced resolutions blocking proposed military sales to Israel. Both motions failed.

In March 2015, Rounds wrote that preventing Iran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons was a shared U.S.-Israel goal. He said he was a cosponsor of the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act, which would reimpose economic sanctions if no agreement was reached and require congressional approval of any agreement, and later that year he urged the Senate to reject the JCPOA because he believed it would only delay Iran's path to a nuclear weapon. threat

In June 2025, Rounds said Iran had been preparing to make nuclear weapons and supported Israel's military strikes on Iran as actions to defend itself against the Iranian threat. In March 2026, he endorsed President Trump's military action after what he described as unsuccessful talks over Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

On June 23, 2026, Rounds voted against H. Con. Res. 86, which directed the President under the War Powers Resolution to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran. The Senate agreed to the concurrent resolution 50-48.

In December 2023, Rounds was an original cosponsor of S. 3441, the Terrorist Financing Prevention Act of 2023. The bill sought to expand sanctions authorities against foreign financial institutions and digital-asset firms that facilitate transactions for foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas. It was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, which held a hearing in February 2024, but the bill did not advance beyond the introduced stage.

In June 2025, Rounds said Iran had financed Hamas for decades and supplied the group with materials and training. He described Iran's support for Hamas as part of a broader threat to Israel and the United States.

On October 11, 2023, Rounds and Senator Jacky Rosen led a bipartisan request for the Defense Department to transfer additional Iron Dome systems to Israel. Their letter said that since October 7, Hamas had fired thousands of rockets toward populated areas with the intent to kill civilians and argued that the transfer could help Israel defend against continuing attacks.

In October 2024, on the first anniversary of the attack, Rounds urged Americans to continue standing with Israel and described Hamas and other Iran-backed groups as threats to Israel's security.

Rounds was an original cosponsor of S. Res. 252 in May 2021, a bipartisan resolution condemning the rise in antisemitic violence and harassment and calling on government and community leaders to take steps to prevent antisemitism. The Senate agreed to the resolution by voice vote on June 14, 2021.

In June 2021, Rounds joined 55 other senators in relaunching the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism. His office noted that he had also participated in the task force when it was first launched in 2019.

In May 2024, Rounds and Senator Joe Manchin led a bipartisan group in introducing a Sense of the Senate resolution rejecting the International Criminal Court prosecutor's application for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Rounds argued that the ICC was drawing an improper equivalence between Hamas and Israeli leaders.

In September 2016, Rounds and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand led a bipartisan letter signed by 88 senators urging President Obama to oppose and, if necessary, veto one-sided U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The senators argued that final-status issues should be resolved through direct negotiations rather than imposed by the Security Council.

In May 2026, Rounds joined a letter urging President Trump to work through the United Nations to dismantle UNRWA and eliminate its UN budget, citing alleged and documented ties between some agency employees and Hamas and arguing that future aid mechanisms should be free of terrorist ties.

In December 2023, Rounds attended a meeting hosted by Senator Tim Scott and the American Jewish Committee with a delegation of family members and survivors of Hamas's October 7 attack in Israel.

Rounds has also met directly with Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz of the Chabad Jewish Center of South Dakota, including meetings documented by his office in July 2025 and June 2026. These meetings demonstrate direct engagement with a South Dakota Jewish-community leader, though the public summaries do not identify specific policy commitments arising from the meetings.