An angry Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that the U.S. shouldn't send another "nickle" of military aid to Israel, arguing that the nations has violated both international and American law during its war on Gaza.
"The Foreign Assistance Act is very clear," Sanders told Kristen Welker of NBC's "Meet the Press."Any country that blocks U.S. humanitarian aid is in violation of law and should not continue to receive military aid from the United States, and that is precisely what Israel has done."
In "my view," he said, "Israel should not be receiving another nickel in U.S. military aid."
Sanders emphasized that he believes that Hamas is a "terrible, disgusting organization," but argued that Israel has gone to war against all Palestinians, not just against members of Hamas.
Bernie Sanders on Meet the Press: "In my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickel in US military aid." pic.twitter.com/BcKsVTY0zd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 12, 2024
The senator made his remarks shortly after Welker interviewed Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that Israel has not yet provided a "credible" plan for mitigating civilian casualties in the Gazan city of Rafah. For months, the U.S. has warned Israel that invading Rafah would be a "mistake."
Israel maintains that invading Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas. The city, however, is also home to more than a million Palestinians, many of whom fled the Israeli bombardment from elsewhere in Gaza.
"We're not just talking about not just 35,000 Palestinians dead and 77,000 wounded — two-thirds of whom are women and children," Sanders told Welker before enumerating the other consequences of Israel's war.
"We're [also] talking about 60% of the housing in Gaza being destroyed. You are talking about a systematic destruction of the healthcare system there. Every university has been bombed and right now — most frighteningly — according to the humanitarian organizations, we are looking at the likelihood of hundreds of thousands of children facing starvation," Sanders underscored.
Sanders, who is Jewish, has been highly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claims that criticism of the war is antisemitic.
In past interviews, he has said that allegations of genocide should be determined by the international justice system, but emphasized that he does not doubt that Israel is carrying out an ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
