AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held nothing back on Tuesday in issuing a very strongly worded condemnation of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza while urging the U.S. to cut off funding for the conflict.
“Let me be clear: NO MORE U.S. funding for Netanyahu’s illegal, immoral, brutal, and grossly disproportionate war against the Palestinian people. Congress must reject any effort to pass $10 billion of unconditional military aid for the right-wing Netanyahu government,” Sanders, the only Jewish presidential candidate to ever win a nominating contest, said on X/Twitter. Sanders notably attributed the war in Gaza to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “the right-wing Netanyahu government” — not to Israel in general.
The Vermont senator’s office released a full statement, saying, “The issue we face with Israel-Gaza is not complicated. While we recognize that Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack began this war, we must also recognize that Israel’s military response has been grossly disproportionate, immoral, and in violation of international law.” Sanders added:
And, most importantly for Americans,
we must understand that Israel’s war against the Palestinian people has been significantly waged with U.S. bombs, artillery shells, and other forms of weaponry. And the results have been catastrophic.Since October 7th, over 22,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes, two-thirds of these victims have been women and children – and 57,000 have been wounded.Since the start of the war 1.9 million Palestinian men, women, and children have been driven from their homes – 85% of the total population of Gaza. According to an analysis of satellite radar data nearly 70% of the housing units in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombardment. Today, not only are the vast majority of people in Gaza homeless, they lack food, water, medical supplies, and fuel. A recent UN report indicates that half of the population of about 2.2 million are at risk of starvation and 90% say that they regularly go without food for a whole day. The chief economist at the World Food Program said the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is among the worst he has ever seen. This cannot be allowed to continue.Congress is working to pass a supplemental funding bill that includes $10 billion of unconditional military aid for the right-wing Netanyahu government to continue its brutal war against the Palestinian people. Enough is enough. Congress must reject that funding. The taxpayers of the United States must no longer be complicit in destroying the lives of innocentmen, women, and children in Gaza.
Sanders has been reluctant to call for a ceasefire in the conflict, arguing that Hamas has no interest in one. “I don’t know how you can have a permanent ceasefire with Hamas who has said before October 7 and after October 7 that they want to destroy Israel and they want a permanent war. I don’t know how you have a permanent ceasefire with an attitude like that,” Sanders said on Face the Nation in mid-December.