Washington, D.C. – In a stunning moment during the 2016 US presidential election, Senator Bernie Sanders called out his then-rival Hillary Clinton for failing to mention Palestinian rights in a speech she gave to a pro-Israel lobby group.
Standing onstage in a nationally televised primary debate, Sanders highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and criticized the unconditional support the Israeli government – led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – is receiving from Washington.
“There will come a time when, if we pursue justice and peace, we will have to say that Netanyahu is not always right,” he said.
It was a rare statement from a Washington politician. Few, even among left-leaning Democrats, have questioned whether the United States should reconsider its “unwavering” support for Israel.
But fast forward seven years, Sanders is now angering many of his supporters who feel let down by his current stance on the war between Israel and Hamas.
As Israel’s military offensive in Gaza intensifies, killing thousands of children and razing entire neighborhoods, Sanders has not called for a ceasefire. Because of his reputation as an anti-war voice, critics say he is uniquely positioned to strengthen demands for an end to hostilities in Gaza.
“At a time when Washington is standing with those, including the President, who are beating the drums of war, we need leaders with the courage and legacy of anti-war activism to break that consensus and say that all human life is precious through demands a ceasefire,” said Eva Borgwardt, political director of IfNotNow, a progressive Jewish group.
“If anyone can do that in the Senate, it’s Senator Sanders.”
Sanders’ position
Last week, activists held a protest outside Sanders’ Senate office to call on him to support a ceasefire.
“We went to his office to say that we – and his colleagues in the House of Representatives who are speaking out courageously, at great personal and political risk – need him now,” Borgwardt told Al Jazeera in a statement.
Democratic House members introduced a ceasefire resolution on October 16, but there have been no calls on the Senate side to end the war.
Earlier this month, nearly 300 former staffers who worked on Sanders’ presidential campaigns signed a letter calling on him to introduce a similar resolution.
“President [Joe] Biden clearly values your advice, as evidenced by the ways you have managed to shape the outcomes of his presidency,” said the letter, first reported by The Intercept. “We urge you to make clear what is at stake politically, morally and strategically in this crisis.”
Sanders last week called for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting, but only after Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a similar demand.
The senator expressed his strongest criticism of the Israeli offensive on Monday, but he did not call for a ceasefire.
“The US provides $3.8 billion a year to Israel,” Sanders wrote in a social media post.
“The Biden administration and Congress must make it clear. Israel has the right to defend itself and destroy Hamas terrorism, but it has no right to use US dollars to kill thousands of innocent men, women and children in Gaza.”
In 2016, Sanders — an independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats — defied the odds and mounted a competitive primary challenge against Clinton. Four years later, he led the race for the Democratic nomination until several candidates withdrew and threw their support behind Biden, who would later win the presidency.
During his two presidential campaigns, Sanders led a growing progressive movement in American politics that included the Palestinian issue as a core tenet of his agenda.
Questioning American support for Israel during the presidential campaign — where candidates often compete to demonstrate their pro-Israel bona fides — remains rare. It showed that Sanders was a candidate willing to defy political consensus, a quality that appealed to many younger voters.
Domestically, Sanders focused his platform on combating economic inequality. But his outsider approach to politics also extended to foreign policy. He said he would impose human rights conditions on U.S. aid to Israel, a proposal Biden dismissed as “outlandish” during the 2020 race.
Sanders, who is Jewish, has also long denounced the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, describing it as “unsustainable” and “unacceptable.” He also called Netanyahu a “reactionary racist.”
Arab communities
Sanders’ message resonated deeply with the Arab and Muslim American communities at the time, who rallied behind his campaign and helped him win Michigan’s 2016 Democratic primary in one of the race’s biggest upsets.
But the senator’s current reluctance to call for a ceasefire has left many of his Palestinian, Arab and Muslim supporters feeling disappointed, if not betrayal.
Omar Baddar, a Palestinian-American analyst who supported Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, said it is “difficult to convey the depth of disappointment” he feels over the senator’s inability to call a ceasefire -support fires.
“I know the political climate in the US right now is scary, anti-Palestinian and intolerant of dissent, but that is exactly why Sanders’ vote would be so valuable,” Baddar told Al Jazeera. If Sanders speaks out, Baddar believes his actions will “create the political space” for others to do the same.
Baddar also downplayed Sanders’ call for a “pause” in the fighting. Interrupting “the slaughter of civilians in Gaza is not a moral position,” he said, stressing that the fighting must end.
“Those who oppose a complete ceasefire are under the misleading impression that Israel can achieve peace or stability through mass violence, ignoring the fact that Israeli brutality towards the Palestinians is precisely why we being in a situation where no one is safe,” Baddar told Al. Jazeera.
“Even in the unlikely scenario that Israel is able to eliminate Hamas, the sheer horror it inflicts on the people of Gaza will undoubtedly spawn the next generation of militants seeking revenge on Israel.”
Amer Zahr, a Palestinian-American comedian and activist who campaigned for Sanders in Arab communities across the country, also expressed his dismay at the senator’s stance.
“After the massive support Bernie received from Arab, Muslim and Palestinian Americans in 2016 and 2020, we expected that he would have been among the first to push for an immediate ceasefire,” Zahr told Al Jazeera.
“The fact that he doesn’t do this is an insult. His voice could open the door for many others to say the same. To call his actions, or lack thereof, a huge disappointment would be to underestimate the pain.”
Sanders’ Senate office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Suehaila Amen, an Arab-American attorney in Michigan, said she was “stunned” by Sanders’ stance, adding that the Arab community at large is “extremely disappointed” in the senator.
“The community is truly shaken to its core because no one has actually stood up to the government – or those we have supported in the past during their presidential campaigns – and said, this must end. This has to stop,” Amen told Al Jazeera.
“The fact that you can’t even ask for a ceasefire is absolutely disgusting and beyond me – when you see in real time children being pulled out of the rubble.”
Nour Ali, an activist from Michigan, also recalled the excitement that Sanders’ presidential campaigns created in the state’s Arab and Muslim communities, where many Arabic speakers called him “Ammunition” or “Uncle” Bernie.
“This has caused many of us to take into account who we have supported politically in the past. While the Republican Party is downright Islamophobic, many Arab and Muslim Americans realize that the Democratic Party – both moderates and progressives – has used us as a talking point,” Ali told Al Jazeera.