Sanders says US giving Netanyahu ‘another $10 billion’ is ‘irresponsible’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that the United States approving additional aid to Israel is “irresponsible,” pointing to the thousands of civilians killed in Gaza amid Israel’s war against the militant group Hamas.

“Israel is losing the war in terms of how the world is looking at this situation,” Sanders said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “And I think that it would be irresponsible for the United States to give [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] another $10 billion to continue to wage this awful war.”

Sanders sided with Republicans last week to block the $111 billion emergency supplemental package requested by President Biden to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel due to concerns over Israeli operations in Gaza. Sanders has repeatedly expressed worries about a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the territory continues to be bombarded by Israeli forces.

“You’re talking about 1.9 million people displaced going around without any more food, without any medical supplies,” he said Sunday. “It is a humanitarian disaster. And the United States has got to put all of the pressure that it can to tell Netanyahu to stop the military approach.”

Sanders has opposed additional aid to Israel without conditions set for protecting civilians.

“I think what the Congress has got to do is make it clear to Netanyahu that we’re not going to simply give him a blank check to kill women and children in Palestine,” he said Sunday.

When asked what he believes Netanyahu’s goal for Gaza is, Sanders said it was unclear. He reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself, but not a right to wage war against civilians in Gaza.

“It really is hard to say. It may be that they’re responding in rage against the horrific and terrible Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 innocent Israelis,” he said. “Or maybe in some of the right-wing extremist minds, there is the goal to drive the Palestinian people [out] of Gaza completely, but they have now destroyed about half the housing units in Gaza.”