US Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at The People V. The Powerful rally at the Detroit Opera House.
Bernie Sanders says Netanyahu’s government should get “not one nickel more”
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) intensified his long-standing criticism of US military support for ‘Israel’, declaring that the “extremist Netanyahu government” should receive “not one nickel more” from American taxpayers.
In recent campaign remarks on Monday in a rally in Lansing, Michigan, Sanders reiterated his position amid ongoing debates over aid amid the protracted conflict in Gaza.
Sanders argued that while ‘Israel’ had the right to defend itself after the events of October 7, 2023, but its response under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went far beyond that.
“They did not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian population,” he stated.
He cited high civilian casualties –over 73,000 Palestinians killed, a majority women, children, and elderly—and widespread destruction: “92% of the housing units of Gaza,” along with schools, hospitals, water systems, and infrastructure.
The senator has repeatedly framed continued unconditional aid as complicity in a humanitarian crisis.
In an April op-ed, he wrote: “The time is long overdue for members of Congress to listen to the American people and end US military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government.”
He has pushed resolutions to block specific arms sales, such as 1,000-pound bombs and bulldozers, describing them as “instruments of ethnic cleansing.”
Public opinion data cited by Sanders shows shifting US views.
A Pew poll indicated 80% of Democrats hold an unfavorable opinion of ‘Israel’, with strong opposition to arms shipments among independents and young voters.
A Quinnipiac poll found 60% overall opposing US arms to ‘Israel’.
Sanders has forced multiple Senate votes on blocking aid packages, gaining increasing but still minority support from Democrats.
He has emphasized: “I will be damned if I’m going to give another nickel to the Netanyahu government in order to continue this war against the Palestinian people.”
While progressives like Sanders and some House Democrats have supported cuts to the annual $3.8 billion in aid (plus supplemental packages), many centrists and Republicans defend robust support for ‘Israel’ as a key ally facing threats.
