Campaign

Cornel West hits Sanders for not calling for cease-fire in Gaza: ‘Pretty pathetic’

by Tara Suter - 11/16/23 2:41 PM ET

Cornel West gestures widely while giving a speech. — Damian Dovarganes, Associated Press file
Cornel West, who is running for U.S. president as a third-party candidate in 2024, gives the keynote address at the “#BLM Turns 10 People’s Justice Festival” July 15, 2023, at the Leimert Park neighborhood in Los Angeles.

Independent 2024 presidential candidate Cornel West criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for not calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing war between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

“You say, ‘Brother Bernie, man, this is reaching the point where it’s getting pathetic now, man,’” West said in an interview with Status Coup News on Wednesday. “If the pause is the best you can come up with given this situation, then this is getting pretty pathetic.”

While Sanders has backed a “pause in the bombing,” he has not called for a cease-fire, like some other progressives in Congress. He has faced pressure on the issue, with protestors occupying his Washington, D.C., office earlier this month, demanding he call for a cease-fire.

West previously served as a surrogate for Sanders’s presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020. However, he has recently critiqued Sanders’s alignment with Democrats and his support for President Biden’s 2024 reelection bid.

“Brother Bernie’s making a plausible argument, but I think deep down in his heart, he knows that the Democratic Party has no fundamental intention of speaking to the needs of poor people and working people,” West said in an interview on Hill TV’s “Rising” in August.

West called Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), another popular progressive in Congress, “window dressing at worst, and, at best, people to appeal to every four years.”

“But the Democratic Party is beyond redemption at this point when it comes to seriously speaking to the needs of poor and working people,” West maintained.

Jill Stein, another liberal candidate running for the Green Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, has also recently called out Sanders for not supporting a cease-fire in Gaza.

“So why aren’t you calling for a ceasefire @BernieSanders? #CeasefireNOW” Stein posted Monday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Roughly 1,200 people were killed in Israel last month in a widespread attack launched by Hamas. More than 11,000 Palestinians, including many children, have been killed by resulting Israeli strikes in Gaza.