Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) reiterated their beliefs on Sunday that the United States should immediately stop funding Israel’s nearly yearlong military campaign in Gaza, but still tiptoed around the idea of directly pressuring Vice President Kamala Harris following her remarks that essentially vowed to continue arming a country accused by much of the international community of committing genocide against Palestinians.
One of the most prominent issues currently dividing the Democratic Party is Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza, which began more than 10 months ago when the Hamas militant group attacked the country that killed about 1,200 and took hundreds hostage, with about one hundred of them still remaining in the strip. Israel has since decimated the Palestinian enclave, killing more than 40,000 people, flattening entire neighborhoods, destroying life-saving infrastructure, and causing disease and starvation to spread largely due to blocking sufficient aid from entering.
The Biden administration has continued to unconditionally fund and arm the Israeli army, ignoring the pleas by Arab, Muslim and Palestinian Americans and their allies ― like Sanders and Warren ― to stop participating in the slaughter. Despite casting their ballots for “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary as a protest vote, some leaders and organizers have hoped that Harris, the party’s new presidential nominee, would be more easily swayed in stopping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his determination to wipe out Gaza.
“I happen to think that my views in this area are very different from President Biden’s views. I happen to think that we should not be giving another nickel to Netanyahu’s right-wing, extremist government,” Sanders told Jon Karl on ABC’s “This Week.” “They certainly had a right to defend themselves against the atrocious Hamas attack. They never had the right, do not have the right, to go to war against the entire Palestinian people.”
“What’s going on can lead to the starvation of thousands of children. American taxpayer dollars should not go to starve children in Gaza,” he continued. “That is my view, others may disagree with me.”
Last week, the Democratic National Convention refused to allow a Palestinian to speak on stage, even after letting the parents of an Israeli hostage speak. And in her keynote address on Thursday, Harris said she would “ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”
“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” she said. “Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”
When asked about those comments, Sanders pivoted to the domestic issues he knows Harris supports, like the child tax credit. But he did say that he hopes Harris will “come to the conclusion” that the U.S. must halt military aid to Israel “unless their is a radical change in their policies to the Palestinian people in Gaza and in the West Bank.”
In her remarks, Harris also mentioned the “suffering in Gaza,” a break from President Joe Biden’s rhetoric on Palestinians. But while the vice president correctly said Hamas was responsible for the attack on Israel, she declined to ascribe Palestinians’ current plight to Israel, only speaking of it in the passive voice.
“While we all obviously believe that there should be a cease-fire immediately and permanently ― that Palestinians, just like Israelis, deserve the right to self-determination ― we have to do more than just say that we believe that,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Penn.) told Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We have to actually take steps that are going to show that we’re willing to start to listen to people who have been outside of the political, I would say, conversation for so long.”
“It’s been a third rail,” she continued. “And there’s going to be a lot more work that we have to do to show to this demographic that the Democratic Party includes them in its big tent, includes them in our foreign policy considerations, and also includes them in our conversations around humanity and human rights.”
Both Sanders and Warren have focused their critiques on the continued U.S. funding to the Israeli military, stressing that it is not only excessive but also illegal given that Netanyahu and his government have been found by a slew of human rights groups, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to have intentionally targeted Palestinian civilians and the systems that keep their society functioning.
“In all due respect, the United States is now spending more than the next 10 nations combined on defense,” Sanders said. “I agree with the vice president, we want the strongest defense in the world. But I do think enough is enough. You’re seeing military contractors’ profits soaring, and I think we can have the strongest defense in the world without spending a trillion dollars a year.”
Under the Leahy Law, the U.S. must not provide military aid to countries that are in violation of international human rights law ― in this case, Israel. The Biden administration and pro-Israel lawmakers have argued that they don’t believe Israel has violated international law, and so are free to continue receiving military aid from the U.S.
When asked if she would counsel Harris on conditioning military aid to Israel, Warren dodged and instead focused on the current Leahy Law violations.
“Look, I want to be clear: American law already says that we give military aid only to those who are in compliance with international law,” Warren told Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “What Benjamin Netanyahu has done in creating a humanitarian disaster in Gaza raises questions about compliance with international law. The United States needs to live its values every day.”