Bernie Sanders is failing this moment

On Saturday, November 25, three Palestinian college students were attacked and critically injured by a gunman on a residential street near The University of Vermont campus in Senator Bernie Sanders’s home state. Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed told family members they had been talking in both English and Arabic to each other as they walked down the street when the assailant suddenly fired four rounds at them. The shooter allegedly did not say a word before charging the students, who were also each wearing a Keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf, at the time of the attack. 

Following the shooter’s arrest at 3:30 p.m. the next day, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders issued a statement on X expressing horror for the incident but not going so far as to condemn the assault as a hate crime: “It is shocking and deeply upsetting that three young Palestinians were shot here in Burlington, VT. Hate has no place here, or anywhere. I look forward to a full investigation. My thoughts are with them and their families.”

In light of Israel’s continued war on Gaza, which has killed over 15,000 Palestinians, it is hard not to see this assault as a worrying sign of increasing hate crimes against Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians in the U.S. Journalists, writers, and activists swiftly saw Sanders’s reluctance to connect the shooting to the war in Gaza as an opportunity to condemn the senator for what has been a muted approach to demanding an end to Israel’s endless siege on Palestinians in the coastal enclave.

“If you really cared about Palestinians you’d demand an immediate permanent ceasefire and block any more US weapons to the genocidal Zionists. You don’t care though,” replied Electronic Intifada director Ali Abunimah to the senator’s post.

The collective upset at Sanders’s unmoving response is emblematic of the frustration and disappointment felt by his constituents as the war continually feels closer to home. Since Israel launched its all-out assault on Gaza following the Hamas attacks on October 7, Sander’s statements have continually proven problematic and contradictory.

Perhaps most notably, during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on November 5, Sanders claimed, “I don’t know how you can have a ceasefire, (a) permanent ceasefire, with an organization like Hamas, which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel.”

We ask Senator Sanders: Are you not aware that even the Israeli military takes Hamas’ offers of long-term truce seriously? Are you not aware that in 2008, Israel — not Hamas —broke the negotiated ceasefire? Why are you not also asking whether or not it would be possible to have a ceasefire with a government like Israel? If, as you yourself admit, Netanyahu’s Likud party was formed on the premise that “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty,” why are you not characterizing the Israeli government as an irrationally hostile entity that must be removed from power, as you have repeatedly insinuated about Hamas?

In Sanders’s statements, he calls for “an end to indiscriminate bombing campaign by Israel” and for a “significant, extended humanitarian pause to let aid through” to Palestinians in Gaza fleeing violence. The senator’s comments reflect a clear disregard for Palestinian lives and seem to echo recent reports that the Biden administration is warning Israel of the need to fight Hamas in a more “surgical” manner, which simply further emboldens a continued military campaign in Gaza. Where is the Bernie Sanders who, in May 2021, urged a ceasefire and questioned whether or not Israeli’s “right to self-defense” trumped the rights of Palestinians simply to live their lives? We ask Senator Sanders, do Palestinians now forfeit their rights because of the Hamas attacks on October 7?

While DC protestors have crowded the doors of the Vermont senator’s office, Vermont activists have largely given up on Bernie after numerous futile attempts to discuss their demands over the years. Wafic Faour, a Palestinian-American member of the local activist group Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, told us that Sanders “says something but [he] doesn’t mandate it, so it is empty promises,” referencing the senator’s recent statement on conditional aid to Israel. Faour also pointed to Sanders’ total silence when the University of Vermont, citing undefined “safety concerns,” canceled a long-planned speaking event by Palestinian poet and journalist Mohammed El-Kurd.

After a month of trying, the local Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP, Vermont and New Hampshire) has been unsuccessful in scheduling a meeting with Sanders. Organizer and JVP member Kathy Shapiro tells us that they hope to put more pressure on the senator to call for a permanent ceasefire, end military aid, end the occupation, and open up massive humanitarian aid. Because of Sanders’s reticence, many activists have turned to other congressional members. On November 9, JVP organized a protest outside of freshman House representative Becca Balint’s fundraiser in Burlington, Vermont. Subsequently, and after a direct meeting with Balint, she reversed course and called for a ceasefire. Senator Peter Welch followed suit, only calling for a ceasefire following the shooting of Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed. This makes Sanders Vermont’s only congressional delegate not to have called for a ceasefire, prompting collective “boos” from demonstrators outside the statehouse in Montpelier on December 2.

In case there is any doubt, our view is that calling for a ceasefire, while important, is also the absolute bare moral minimum. On November 15, the Vermont Progressive Party, led by former Vermont Senator Anthony Pollina, passed a resolution calling on the Vermont congressional delegation to demand a ceasefire in addition to “unrestricted humanitarian aid” and “an immediate end to all U.S. government funding for the Israeli Military.” And local activists continue to challenge Israeli apartheid by endorsing BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) and calling for an end to occupation.

In a self-deprecating manner, Sanders ends his November 22 New York Times Op-Ed “Justice for Palestinians and Security for Israel” by saying, “Over the years, people of good will around the world, including Israelis, have tried to address this conflict in a way that brings justice for Palestinians and security for Israel. I, and some other members of Congress, have tried to do what we could. Obviously, we did not do enough.” We say to Senator Sanders, you have offered only words and not actions. How many more wars and thousands of more lives lost will it require for you to take a stand … or at least step aside for someone who will?