Bernie Sanders Blasts Biden’s ‘Totally Absurd’ Israel Policy, Condemns ‘Wholesale Slaughter of the Palestinian People’
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) did not mince words Friday night when speaking about U.S. policy toward Israel as it continues its military response to the Oct. 7 terror attacks.
After Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and abducted more than 200 others, Israel invaded Gaza in an operation that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and displaced 85% of Gaza’s population. President Joe Biden has come under increasing pressure from members of his party, who say he needs to do more than express optimism that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take a less destructive approach. The United States has been supplying Israel with weapons, including two instances in which Biden bypassed Congress to ensure the delivery of arms. On the diplomatic front, Biden has shielded Israel by wielding its veto power at the United Nations Security Council.
Sanders appeared on Friday’s Alex Wagner Tonight on MSNBC to offer his thoughts.
“We are talking about hundreds of thousands of children facing starvation,” the senator said. “We’re talking about Israeli bombs making it impossible for humanitarian aid to get to places that it is needed, the the borders are being blockaded and aid is unable to get through. So I think what the president is doing is an important step forward, but we need to do more. We need to tell Netanyahu and his right-wing government that they’re gonna have to open those borders.”
On Friday, Biden said the U.S. would begin air-dropping aid into Gaza. Israel is restricting the flow of humanitarian assistance in what the U.N. secretary-general has called a form of “collective punishment” against Palestinians.
Sanders noted his recent vote against an aid package for Israel, prompting Alex Wagner to juxtapose the continued flow of aid to Israel while the U.S. will air-drop aid to the territory it has invaded:
SANDERS: We need a new approach to Israel. For many, many years, we have given them a lot of money. Recently there was a vote. I voted against it, to give them another $14 billion. My view, not another nickel for Netanyahu’s government if he’s gonna continue this wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people.
WAGNER: That’s the thing I can’t really reconcile, right? We’re air-dropping aid at the same time as the U.S. is sending weapons of war over to Israel. I mean, how do you reconcile that? Is that right hand not talking to the left hand?
SANDERS: You can’t reconcile it. It’s totally absurd. And on top of that, look, the airdrops are very important. But that is not as important as opening up the borders because you’re gonna need hundreds of hundreds of trucks every single day. And our message to Netanyahu, you know what? You’re not gonna get another nickel unless you open those borders and prevent the starvation, which is imminent.
Sanders went on to say, “It is an unprecedented disaster, Alex. I mean, it makes my stomach turn.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
