Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday night spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate:
And let me also mention something that I found rather extraordinary and outrageous. And that is just a few days ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing extremist government in Israel, a government which contains out-and-out anti-Palestinian racists.
Netanyahu issued a statement in which he equated criticism of his government’s illegal and immoral war against the Palestinian people with antisemitism. In other words, if you are protesting, or disagree, with what Netanyahu and his extremist government are doing in Gaza, you are an antisemite.
That is an outrageous statement from a leader who is clearly trying – and I have to tell you, he seems to be succeeding with the American media — trying to deflect attention away from the horrific policies that he is pursuing that created an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
So, let me be as clear as I can be: It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in almost seven months Netanyahu’s extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – seventy percent of whom are women and children.
It is not antisemitic to point out that Netanyahu’s government’s bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than one million people homeless – almost half the population. No, Mr. Netanyahu it is not antisemitic to point out what you have done in terms of the destruction of housing in Gaza.
It is not antisemitic to realize that his government has annihilated Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers. At a time when 77,000 people have been wounded and desperately need medical care, Netanyahu has systematically destroyed the health care system in Gaza.
It is not antisemitic to condemn his government’s destruction of all of Gaza’s 12 universities and 56 of its schools, with hundreds more damaged, leaving 625,000 children in Gaza have no opportunity for an education. It is not antisemitic to make that point.
It is not antisemitic to note that Netanyahu’s government has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – there is virtually no electricity in Gaza right now, virtually no clean water in Gaza right now, and sewage is seeping out onto the streets.
It is not antisemitic to make that point.
President, it is not antisemitic to agree with virtually every humanitarian organization that functions in the Gaza area in saying that his government, in violation of American law, has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza.
actually it appears as though the House voted today to change the definition of anti-semitism to include criticism of the state of Israel, so in fact it now is anti-semitic to point out those things.
source: https://lemm.ee/post/30979131
Its still not anti-semetic to criticize Netanyahu. Just because it’s a law, doesn’t make it right.
It’s not a law that you can’t criticize Netanyahu…
Well not yet. Its on its way to the Senate now.
What’s on its way to the Senate has nothing to do with criticizing Netanyahu and only applies to the Department of Education
The House is free to define pi as 3, that doesn’t mean it is.
[The bill] requires the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism when enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws
This is what the bill actually does. I don’t like it, but there’s no reason to mischaracterize it
Let’s check out this “working definition” shall we?: https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
These can be stretched to call any criticism of israel “antisemitic”, especially given what israel is doing now.
Great man theory in action. It’s not Netanyahu. He’s a symptom of the wider bigotry in Israeli society. Read South Africa’s complaint to the ICJ. Many, many, many members of their government are in full support of this genocide. Even the citizenry majority support the “war”, they’re just mad the hostages haven’t been returned yet.
Well said, no person can make a genocide and create an ideology alone. Were Netanyahu not PM another reactionary would be promoting genocide in Palestine. It’s not a single-person problem, it’s a deeply-rooted problem in the Israeli government and society.
Israel is the most racist society on this planet.
Without some sort of degree in world geopolitics on your end I would say this inflammatory statement is hard to believe. It might be easier to say that Israel is the most racist society within the top 30. Even then, there are some countries in the top 30 where I personally have no clue how racist they are; but at least it’s closer to the truth.
That old man sounds like a real antisemite \s
Damn antisemetic Jews.
Only sane person in government and they won’t let us vote for him.
The rich have far too much to lose.
You can write him in. My dream would be a mass movement to write him in but that’s not gonna happen.
Bernie Sanders has endorsed Biden and would encourage you to vote for Biden. Maybe you should listen to him
He should pull his endorsement. Biden can’t win and we can’t allow Trump to win.
Delusional DNC seems to want another Trump term, much more than they want to win elections. They must think they can get more tax cuts and another fundraising opportunity out of it, plus the chance to continue the long held tradition of not holding elites responsible for any of their myriad crimes. Total morons imo.
That was the case in 2016.
So we are in agreement then? They haven’t learned anything in 8 years.
I think so.
Bernie making the point again about an hour ago here:
Sanders is the only G in the house.
Akshually, he’s in the Senate, not the House
But yes, I concur.
I think OP means it more as “in da houzz.”
No, he is in the upper house. So akshually yourself.
Consider running Bernie. Biden’s not gonna win with the stances he’s taken.
Bernie is great… but that’s not how FPtP voting works, and I don’t think Bernie would even consider running unless Biden dropped out and endorsed him.
Bernie didn’t even run in the primary, probably because it doesn’t make sense to run against an incumbent.
Bernie didn’t even run in the primary
Who did?
Basically no real possible candidate ran against Biden in the primary because the Democratic party feels like supporting the incumbent is better for the party then trying to run against them. The incumbent president has a high chance of winning a reelection, historically speaking. Notably, trump is the last President to lose his presidential reelection campaign, before him its been like 20+ years.
it makes sense to run against this one. nationwide protests from whats supposed to be a democrat favoring demographic
There are 186 days until the election. There is no possibility that a better candidate enters now and defeats both Biden and Trump, if the 3rd candidate could even win a single state. And a headline of another thread:
Exclusive: Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from TrumpI think Bernie knows this and would not even run that campaign. There are too many layers of absurdity to this.Bernie also recommended CNN and his colleagues turn their cameras towards Gaza instead of the protestors.
But they won’t. They’ve made their choice.
Bernie did. He lost to Hillary Clinton by 3,700,000 votes in 2026. Let alone a decade later.
He then endorsed Biden. Twice.
Maybe you should listen to the person who’s advocating for the things you want.
Maybe Biden should listen to us.
Maybe he already is. Maybe he has to balance the power of entire nations against doomers on the internet and finds that it doesn’t weigh very heavy on the scale lol.
