Senator Bernie Sanders’s Israel comments following the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners have drawn outrage after he praised what he called “the long-overdue release” of 2,000 Palestinians — many of them convicted terrorists.
Sanders welcomed Israel’s exchange of thousands of Palestinian prisoners for 20 living hostages, saying the deal presents an opportunity for the United States to “end its military alliance with the Jewish state.” According to the Times of Israel, those released included “hundreds of terror convicts serving life terms,” with one Gaza resident having “raped and murdered a 13-year-old boy,” and others “responsible for a series of suicide bombings and other attacks.”
“The United States provided most of the weapons used for this horrendous destruction,” Sanders said. “The United States spent more than $23 billion in taxpayer dollars to support Netanyahu’s barbaric campaign.” He added, “This must never happen again.”
The Vermont senator’s remarks echoed a familiar line of criticism toward Israel’s defense operations. Sanders said that Oct. 7 did not give Israel “the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people, killing or wounding almost 237,000 Palestinians.”
Israelis, meanwhile, marked the release by hanging a sign on one detention facility reading, “He who threatens a flood is drowned and wiped out,” referencing Hamas’s “Al Aqsa Flood” terror campaign.
