Bernie Sanders Rejects Calls for Permanent Ceasefire Between Israel and Hamas: ‘Israel Has the Right to Defend Itself'
Dec. 11 2023, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders recently rejected calls for a permanent Israel-Hamas ceasefire and argued that Israel has a “right to defend itself” from the Palestinian terrorist organization, RadarOnline.com can report.
In the latest development to come more than two months after Hamas attacked southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, Sanders spoke out and argued against a permanent ceasefire between the two parties.
According to the Vermont politician, he supports a temporary ceasefire that would see Hamas release the remaining hostages they kidnapped from southern Israel in October – but he does not support a permanent ceasefire because Hamas “wants to destroy Israel.”
The senator’s remarks came shortly after the U.S. vetoed a United Nations resolution that would have seen humanitarian aid delivered to war-torn Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Well, first of all, I strongly support and wish and hope that the United States will support the United Nations resolution that we vetoed the other day,” Sanders explained during a CBS Face the Nation interview on Sunday.
“That was a humanitarian course, united period ceasefire that would advise we call for the release of all of the hostages held by Hamas and would allow the U.N. and other agencies to begin to supply the enormous amount of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people,” he continued.
“In terms of a permanent ceasefire, I don’t know how you can have a permanent ceasefire when Hamas, who has said before October 7 and after October 7, that they want to destroy Israel,” Sanders explained further.
“They want a permanent war,” he added. “I don’t know how you have a permanent ceasefire with an attitude like that.”
When pressed about his comments by CBS host Margaret Brennan, Sanders clarified that Israel “has the right” to go after Hamas but not the Palestinian people and citizens of Gaza.
“I think Israel has the right to defend itself and to go after Hamas, but not the Palestinian people,” he said.
The independent senators’ remarks on Face the Nation on Sunday came shortly after Sanders penned a letter in which he called the Israeli government “right-wing” and “extremist.”
He also spoke out against the U.S. supplying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a “blank check” to continue its war against Hamas while Israeli forces “kill women and children in Palestine.”
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"I think that it would be irresponsible for the United States to give Netanyahu another $10 billion to continue to wage this awful war," Sanders wrote last week.
"What Congress has got to do is make it clear to Netanyahu that we're not going to simply give them a blank check to kill women and children in Palestine,” he added.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the Senate voted against a bill on Wednesday that would have provided both Israel and Ukraine with billions of dollars in aid amid their respective fights against Hamas and Russia.
Sanders voted against the bill alongside Senate Republicans who would only approve the bill if border security and immigration measures were also included.