Back in 2016, during the United States presidential race, Senator Bernie Sanders challenged his then-opponent Hillary Clinton for her failure to address Palestinian rights during a speech she gave to a pro-Israel lobby group. This was a scene that unfolded on a nationally televised primary debate stage. Sanders drew attention to the grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza and criticised Washington for its unconditional backing of the Israeli government, then led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“A point arrives when, in our pursuit of justice and peace, we must state that Netanyahu cannot always be right,” Sanders declared. His stance was an uncommon one for a politician from Washington, as few, even among Democrats with a liberal inclination, have questioned if the United States should rethink its unflinching support for Israel.
Fast forward seven years, Sanders now finds himself under scrutiny from many of his backers who feel disillusioned by his current position regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict. As the Israeli military campaign in Gaza escalates, causing the deaths of thousands of children and the destruction of entire neighbourhoods, Sanders has refrained from demanding a ceasefire. Critics argue that his anti-war reputation uniquely places him to increase calls for a halt to the hostilities in Gaza.
Eva Borgwardt, the political director at IfNotNow, a progressive Jewish group, said, “At a time when Washington is rallying behind those, including the president, who are sounding the war drums, we need leaders with the courage and a history of anti-war activism to break this consensus and affirm the preciousness of all human life by demanding a ceasefire.” She further added, “If anyone can do that in the Senate, it is Senator Sanders.”
Last week, activists staged a protest at Sanders’s Senate office, urging him to support a ceasefire. Borgwardt, in a statement to Al Jazeera, stated, “We went to his office to express that we — and his colleagues in the House who are courageously voicing dissent, despite significant personal and political risk — need him now.” On October 16, Democratic House members introduced a ceasefire resolution, but their Senate counterparts have not made any calls to end the war.
Earlier this month, close to 300 former staffers from Sanders’s presidential campaigns signed a letter urging him to introduce a similar resolution. The letter, first reported by The Intercept, read, “President [Joe] Biden evidently values your advice, as seen by the ways you’ve managed to influence the results of his presidency.” It further urged Sanders to clarify what is politically, morally, and strategically at stake in the crisis.
Sanders opted for a “humanitarian pause” to the fighting last week, but only after Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made a similar request. The senator expressed his strongest criticism of the Israeli offensive on Monday, but he fell short of demanding a ceasefire.
The senator, in a social media post, wrote, “The US provides $3.8 billion a year to Israel. The Biden administration and Congress must clarify. Israel has the right to defend itself and combat Hamas terrorism, but it does not have the right to use US dollars to kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza.”
Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont who aligns with Democrats, mounted a competitive primary challenge against Clinton in 2016, against all odds. Four years later, he led the race for the Democratic nomination until several candidates withdrew and endorsed Biden, who subsequently won the presidency.
Throughout his two presidential campaigns, Sanders spearheaded a burgeoning progressive movement in US politics that adopted the Palestinian issue as a fundamental part of its agenda. Sanders’s willingness to challenge the political consensus by questioning US support for Israel on the presidential campaign trail was a quality that appealed to many younger voters. It remains a rarity for candidates, who often jostle to display their pro-Israel credentials.
Domestically, Sanders based his platform on battling economic inequality. However, his unconventional approach to politics also extended to foreign policy. He proposed imposing human rights conditions on US aid to Israel, a suggestion that Biden dismissed as “bizarre” during the 2020 race. Sanders, who is Jewish, has consistently condemned the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, describing it as “unsustainable” and “unacceptable”. He has also labelled Netanyahu as a “reactionary racist”.
Sanders’s message resonated profoundly with Arab and Muslim American communities at the time, prompting them to rally around his campaign. This support contributed to his win in the Michigan Democratic primary in 2016, in one of the race’s largest surprises.
However, the senator’s current reluctance to call for a ceasefire has left many of his Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim supporters feeling disappointed, if not betrayed. Omar Baddar, a Palestinian American analyst who supported Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, described it as “hard to convey the depth of the disappointment” he feels over the senator’s failure to support a ceasefire.
Baddar told Al Jazeera, “I know the political climate in the US at the moment is frightening, anti-Palestinian, and intolerant of dissent, but that’s precisely why Sanders’s voice would be so valuable.” According to Baddar, if Sanders speaks out, his actions will “create the political space” for others to follow suit.
Amer Zahr, a Palestinian American comedian and activist who campaigned for Sanders in Arab communities across the country, also expressed disappointment at the senator’s stance. “After the massive support Bernie received from Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian Americans in 2016 and 2020, we would have expected he would have been one of the first to urge an immediate ceasefire,” Zahr told Al Jazeera.
Suehaila Amen, an Arab American advocate in Michigan, expressed her disbelief at Sanders’s position, adding that the Arab community at large is “extremely disappointed” in the senator. “The community is truly shaken to its core that no one has actually stood up from the administration — or those who we have supported in the past on their presidential runs — and said: This must come to an end. This must stop,” Amen told Al Jazeera.
Nour Ali, a Michigan activist, also recalled the excitement Sanders’s presidential campaigns sparked in the state’s Arab and Muslim communities, where many Arabic speakers affectionately called him “Ammo” or “Uncle” Bernie. “This has left many of us to reckon with who we have decided to support politically in the past. While the Republican Party is outright in their Islamophobia, many Arab and Muslim Americans are realising that the Democratic Party — both moderates and progressives — have used us as a talking point,” Ali told Al Jazeera.