‘Excuse Me! Shut Up!’: Bernie Sanders Defends Israel from Town Hall Hecklers

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) got into a heated confrontation with constituents during a town hall in his home state this past weekend. After a woman in the crowd asked Sanders about a Senate resolution that condemned Hamas but “said nothing” about Israel’s “massacre” of Palestinians in Gaza, the senator became defensive, fighting off angry residents with shouts of “Excuse me! Shut up!”

Sanders began by saying he thinks he believes Israel “overreacted” in its offensive against Hamas and was “terribly, terribly wrong” in its bombing of UN facilities. “On the other hand,” Sanders said, “you have situation where Hamas is sending missiles into Israel,” adding that those rockets are often originating from populated areas.

As members of his audience began to shout out their opposition to his statements, Sanders responded, “Excuse me! Shut up! You don’t have the microphone.”

“This is called democracy!” Sanders said shortly after, insisting that he was just trying to answer questions from his constituents. Things calmed down for just a few seconds before another woman in the crowd called out “Bullshit!” on Sanders’ assertion that Hamas does not want Israel to exist.

As a self-described democratic socialist, Sanders has often been described as the “most liberal” member of the Senate. Judging by this town hall, he very well may be more moderate than many of the people he represents.

Watch video below, via YouTube:

[h/t @BuzzFeedAndrew]
[Photo via screengrab]

— —

>> Follow Matt Wilstein (@TheMattWilstein) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!