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.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
