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August 21, 2024
Bernie Sanders Breaks the Silence on Gaza at the DNC
The convention cheered as Sanders called for an end to the war in Gaza. The question now is what will Harris say on Thursday.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, speaks during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, on August 20, 2024.
(Photographer: Al Drago / Bloomberg)
Chicago, IL—Bernie Sanders went there.
The independent senator from Vermont whose 2016 and 2020 presidential bids reshaped the Democratic Party—and in many ways positioned the progressive firebrand as its conscience—told the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night that Israel’s assault on Gaza cannot be neglected. And that it must end.
At the close of an energetic and well-received speech in which Sanders recalled and renewed the fight against corporate power, money in politics, and oligarchy that animated his presidential bids, the senator spoke of the successes of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He praised Biden as a president whose administration has “accomplished more than any government since FDR.” And he embraced the presidential candidacy of Harris, arguing that her election would make it possible to “go forward to create the nation we know we can become.”
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But Sanders did not stop there, as too many of the speakers have, as they have avoided even mentioning the Israeli onslaught, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians over the past 10 months.
Unwilling—indeed, instinctually unable—to rest on the laurels of his own campaigns and of his work with the administration as a key Senate committee chair, Sanders declared, “Much, much more remains to be done. We must summon the courage to stand up to wealth and power and deliver justice for people at home and abroad.”
The senator paused. Then, he loudly repeated the word, “Abroad!”
“We must end this horrific war in Gaza,” Sanders announced. “Bring home the hostages and demand an immediate ceasefire!”
The hall erupted in loud, and sustained, applause. It was a reminder of the fact that, while the Biden administration has for 10 months provided support and funding to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has refused to even consider embargoing arms shipments as part of an effort to encourage an immediate ceasefire, the vast majority of Democrats want that ceasefire.
A handful of speakers have mentioned Gaza in speeches to the convention, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a longtime ally of Sanders, is expected to issue a call on Wednesday night for a more serious Democratic dialogue about Palestinian rights and the search for a genuine path to peace. And, surely, that is necessary. The damage brought to the region is now so catastrophic that The New York Times recently reported, “Rebuilding all the homes destroyed by Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip could take until the next century.”
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One of the few convention speakers who addressed the issue was New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tried to put the best face on things by telling delegates and alternates that Harris “is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring hostages home.” President Biden also referenced ceasefire negotiations—“I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza”—and made a brief reference to the demonstrations outside the hall by thousands of supporters of an immediate ceasefire and an arms embargo against Israel. The president said in his remarks on Monday night, “Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”
But it was Sanders who issued a moral and practical demand for a change of course when he used his primetime speech to call for an immediate ceasefire.
The question now is what Harris will say when she accepts her nomination on Thursday night. Uncommitted delegates, who were sent to the convention by more than 700,000 Democratic primary voters with a charge to change party policy regarding Israel and Palestine, and who have won hundreds of allies among delegates who voted to nominate Harris, continue to argue for an immediate ceasefire and an arms embargo as first steps in a process of pursuing both peace and justice in the Middle East.
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Bernie Sanders Breaks the Silence on Gaza at the DNC
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“If we’re going to go back to uncommitted voters and urge them to vote for Vice President Harris—deliver a proactive message to vote for Vice President Harris—we want to be empowered to do that,” explained Abbas Alawieh, an Uncommitted Movement leader who is a delegate from Michigan. “But we need Vice President Harris to state clearly what her plan will be to stop the flow of weapons to the Israeli military that are being used to kill civilians.”
Sanders offered a rough outline for what Harris might say. It does not have to be an extended statement. But it has to be clear, as was the senator when he told the convention that, to “deliver justice for people at home and abroad,” US leaders must “demand an immediate ceasefire!”
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John Nichols
John Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.