Bernie Sanders Tells Israeli Leftists: ‘Occupation Must End’
Bernie Sanders Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Jewish former presidential candidate, said “the occupation must end” in a video message to the Israeli left-wing opposition Meretz Party.
The five-minute video was set to be screened at a conference on Sunday marking the end of the Six-Day War in 1967 and “50 years of Occupation.”
In opening the video, Sanders said Meretz, which currently has 5 seats in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset, stands “for many of the same values that progressives are fighting for here in the United States and throughout the world.”
“We are now in the 50th year of Israel’s occupation, an occupation which denies basic Palestinian rights while failing to deliver Israel real security,” said Sanders, an independent politician.
“I know so many of you agree with me when I say: this occupation must end. Peace, real peace, means security not only for every Israeli, but for every Palestinian.”
Sanders, who is Jewish and worked on a kibbutz in Israel for several weeks as a young man, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton and lost, though he garnered a great many supporters.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
