The liberal senator, earlier in the week declared ‘I don’t see how you have a permanent ceasefire with Hamas.’
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders posted on X a letter he sent to US President Biden urging him to cancel military aid to Israel, to stop supporting Israel’s military efforts, and to conform with the United Nation’s General Assembly’s demand for an immediate ceasefire.
The liberal senator, who earlier in the week on Face the Nation declared “I don’t see how you have a permanent ceasefire with Hamas,” appeared to have pivoted on Wednesday.
Senator Sander’s letter begins with condemning Hamas’ “brutal terror attack” against Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to 250 being taken hostage and declares that “Israel has the right to defend itself and to respond against the perpetrators of the October 7th attack.”
However, the letter then expressed contradictory views of acknowledging Israel’s right to “respond against perpetrators” and, at the conclusion, urging President Biden to side with the United Nations and demand Israel abide by an immediate ceasefire.
Senator Sanders laid the blame squarely at the feet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for managing the war “in a deeply immoral way.”
He said the IDF’s “widespread and indiscriminate bombardment, including with massive explosives in deeply populated urban areas, is unconscionable.”
However, Senator Sanders didn’t mention in his letter Hamas’ intentional location of missile launchers and ammunition supplies in terror tunnels beneath schools, hospitals, mosques, and private homes, which endangers the lives of civilians.
Sanders said the number of civilian deaths in Gaza, 18,000, reported by the Hamas Ministry of Health, is considered “broadly reliable “by the United Nations” and “independent studies” without naming the studies or considering the anti-Israel bias of the UN.
The letter continued by comparing Israel’s military actions to the Allies’ destruction of Dresden and the displacement of Gazans to that of the Japanese in World War II.
Senator Sanders condemned the US military for providing weapons to Israel, “with the full knowledge that they would be used in Gaza” and that “US weapons were being used to create mass civilian casualties.”
Sanders made no mention of the fact that the IDF urged Gazans to retreat from the north to the south at the beginning of the war to avoid casualties and that it was Hamas that prevented Gazans from leaving their homes.
Senator Sanders concluded the letter by declaring “It would be irresponsible to provide an additional $10.1 billion in military systems beyond..defensive systems.”
He added, “I ask that you support efforts at the United Nations to end the bloodshed, such as the recent resolution, vetoed by the United States, that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and full humanitarian access.”