Sanders Floor Speech on Israel, Palestine, and the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza as Congress Considers Supplemental Spending Legislation

Floor Speech

"M. President, I rise to say a few words about the terrible situation in the Middle East.

As you know, and the American people know, there have been five wars in the last 15 years between Israel and Hamas. How do we end the current one and prevent a sixth war from happening, sooner or later? How do we balance our desire to stop the fighting with the need to address the root causes of this conflict? And here is the sad truth, and it really is a very sad truth: for 75 years, diplomats, well-intentioned Israelis and Palestinians and government leaders all over the world, including Presidents of the United States, have struggled to bring peace to this region. And during that time, among many other things, an Egyptian president and an Israeli prime minister were assassinated by extremists. You know why? Because they tried to bring peace to the region. This is an incredibly difficult and complicated issue and nobody has any simple solution to it.

M. President, as one of the first members of Congress to call for a humanitarian pause to the bombing -- I have been very encouraged to see that pause finally happen over the last five days, and to see its extension earlier this week. That is a very positive development. This temporary ceasefire has brought some relief to Gaza and to the families of the more than 100 hostages released so far. The break in fighting has let an average of 200 trucks per day to enter Gaza carrying desperately needed food, water, medical supplies, and the fuel necessary to distribute aid, pump water, and run hospitals and bakeries. While this is only 40 percent of what Gaza received before Oct. 7 -- and people must recognize this, before the war there were 500 trucks coming in a day, now 200 -- it is still a very substantial improvement from where we were a few weeks ago.

M. President, it seems to me that our job now is to keep working to extend this window further and to get more aid in and to get more hostages out. More aid in and more hostages out. Right now, critical talks are underway that will hopefully provide the UN the time it needs to establish a sustained humanitarian operation that can meet people's basic needs and provide shelter and medical care. And let us be clear, the needs in Gaza are beyond enormous.

M. President, for those of us who want not only to bring this war to end, but to avoid a future ones, we must first be cleareyed about facts. On Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, unleashed a brutal attack against Israel, killing about 1,200 innocent men, women, and children, and taking more than 200 hostages. No one in the U.S. Senate--no one in Congress--denies that Israel has the right to respond to that murderous attack.

Unfortunately, however under the leadership of its right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under indictment for corruption and whose cabinet includes outright racists, Israel unleashed what amounts to almost total war against the Palestinian people. Israel's widespread bombing has left nearly 15,000 people dead, that's in a 7-week period. 15,000 people dead, two-thirds of whom are women and children, and tens of thousands of others wounded. Israel's military campaign, according to UN estimates, damaged or destroyed 45 percent of the housing in Gaza--45 percent!--and displaced 1.8 million people. The Israeli attacks at this point have killed 109 UN workers and left millions of Gazans on the brink of starvation, lacking water, medical care, electricity, or fuel.

This is a humanitarian catastrophe that risks, among other things, igniting a wider regional conflagration. We all want this horror to end as soon as possible. To make progress, however, we must grapple with the complexity of this situation.

First, Hamas has made it clear, before and after their Oct. 7, that its goal is perpetual warfare and the destruction of the state of Israel. Several weeks ago, a spokesman for Hamas told The New York Times: "I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders, and that the Arab world will stand with us." And let me repeat it, this is a Hamas spokesman: "I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders, and that the Arab world will stand with us."

So that's the first point. The second point is if we go back a little bit in history we understand, Israel has done nothing in recent years to give hope for a peaceful settlement -- maintaining the blockade of Gaza, deepening the daily humiliations of occupation in the West Bank, and largely ignoring the horrendous living conditions facing Palestinians. Massive poverty existed in Gaza before Oct. 7, something like 70 percent of the young people in Gaza were unemployed. How is that for a reality in terms of despair and hopelessness? Those were the conditions that existed before the Israeli attack.

Needless to say, M. President, I do not have all of the answers to this never-ending tragedy. But for those of us who believe in peace and for those of us who believe in justice, it is imperative that we do our best to provide Israelis and Palestinians with a thoughtful response that maps out a realistic path to addressing the reality we face today. And let me just share a few of my thoughts as to the best way forward and how the United States can rally the world around a moral position that moves us toward peace in the region and justice for an oppressed Palestinian population.

To start with, in my view, we must demand an immediate end to Israel's indiscriminate bombing, which is causing, and has caused an enormous number of civilian casualties and is in violation of international law. The main point here is that Israel is at war with Hamas, not the Palestinian people. Israel cannot bomb an entire neighborhood just to take out one Hamas lieutenant. That is simply not acceptable and not something the United States should be complicit with.

We must extend the humanitarian pause so that the United Nations has the time to safely set up the distribution network needed to prevent thirst, starvation, and disease, to build shelters and to evacuate those who need critical care. Once again, we are looking at an unimaginable humanitarian crisis and the UN is going to need as much time as it can get to help people in desperate need. This window will also allow for talks to free as many hostages as possible, and I think we all would like to see every hostage returned to their loved ones. This extended pause must not precede a resumption of indiscriminate bombing. Israel will continue to go after Hamas, but it must dramatically change its tactics to minimize civilian harm.

If long-suffering Palestinians are ever going to have a chance at self-determination and a decent standard of living, there must be no long-term Israeli re-occupation and blockade of Gaza. If Hamas is going to be removed from power, as they must be, and Palestinians given the opportunity for a better life, an Israeli occupation of Gaza would be absolutely counterproductive and would benefit Hamas. Imagine Israeli soldiers all over an occupied Gaza. For the sake of regional peace and a brighter future for the Palestinian people, Gaza must have a chance to be free of Hamas. There can be no long-term Israeli occupation.

President, to achieve the political transformation that Gaza needs, and Gaza desperately needs a political transformation, new Palestinian leadership will be required as part of a wider political process. And for that transformation and peace process to take place, Israel must make political commitments that will allow for Palestinian leadership committed to peace to build support. But what I think people all over the world want to see and the people in Gaza want to see is leadership that will take care of their needs, provide for them and allow them self-determination. Not leadership in perpetual warfare with Israel. Israel must also guarantee displaced Palestinians the absolute right to return to their homes as Gaza rebuilds. And I am very concerned by some of the remarks we hear from Israel, from some Israeli leaders, questioning that basic right for some people to return to their communities. People who have lived in poverty and despair for years, as people in Gaza have, cannot be made permanently homeless. Israel must also commit to end the killings of Palestinians in the West Bank and freeze settlements there as a first step to permanently ending the occupation. Those steps will show that peace can deliver for the Palestinian people, hopefully giving the Palestinian Authority the legitimacy it needs to assume administrative control of Gaza, likely after an interim stabilization period under an international force.

Finally, if Palestinians are to have any hope for a decent future, there must be a commitment to broad peace talks to advance a new two-state solution in the wake of this war. The United States, the international community and Israel's neighbors must move aggressively toward that two-state goal. This would include dramatically increased international support for the Palestinian people, including from wealthy Gulf States. It would also mean the promise of full recognition of Palestine pending the formation of a new democratically elected government committed to peace with Israel.

Let's be clear: and, M. President, this is the main point I want to make this evening: we should be clear that all of this is not going to happen on its own. Left alone, sad to say, Israel is not going to bring this about. Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud party was explicitly formed on the premise that "between the Sea and the Jordan [River] there will only be Israeli sovereignty," and the current coalition agreement reinforces that goal. This is not just ideology. This idea that Israel has the right to control everything between the Sea and the Jordan River, that is not ideology: the Israeli government has systematically pursued this goal. The last year saw record Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank, where more than 700,000 Israelis now live in areas that the United Nations and the United States agree are occupied territories. They have used state violence to back up this de facto annexation. Sadly, tragically, since Oct. 7, the United Nations reports that at least 230 Palestinians, including 56 children, have been killed by Israeli security forces and settlers. This cannot be allowed to continue.

Mr. Netanyahu has made clear where he stands on these critical issues. Now is the time for us to make clear where we stand on these issues. The truth is that if asking nicely worked, we wouldn't be in the position we are today. Asking nicely is not going to bring about the kinds of changes that are needed. The only way these vital and necessary changes are going to occur is if the United States uses the substantial leverage we have with Israel. And we all know what that leverage is.

For many years, the United States has provided Israel with substantial sums of money -- with close to no strings attached. Currently, we provide $3.8 billion a year, no strings attached. President Biden has asked for $14.3 billion more on top of that sum and asked Congress to waive normal, already-limited oversight rules. This blank check approach must end. The United States must make clear that while we are friends of Israel, there are conditions to that friendship and that we cannot be complicit in actions that violate international law and our own sense of decency. And that, M. President, includes an end to indiscriminate bombing; a significant pause to military operations so that massive humanitarian assistance can come into the region; the right of displaced Gazans to return to their homes; no long-term Israeli occupation of Gaza; an end to settler violence in the West Bank and a freeze on settlement expansion; and, maybe most importantly, a commitment to broad peace talks for a two-state solution in the wake of the war.

M. President, over the years, people of good will around the world, including Israelis and Palestinians, have tried to address this conflict in a way that brings justice for Palestinians and security for Israel. Israel is entitled to security and to be free of terrorist attacks. I, and some other members of Congress, have tried to do what we could. Obviously, painfully, we did not do enough. Now we must recommit to this effort. The stakes are just too high to give up.

It is clear that Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing government are not going to do this on their own, which is why the United States must use its leverage to force these necessary changes and push hard for a wider political process that leads to a two-state solution. These should be the conditions of our solidarity, including in the supplemental spending bill which we will soon be considering.

Israel is a longtime friend and ally of the United States, and I respect that. But when there is this level of destruction and bloodshed, and when tens of billions of dollars have been requested, it is more than reasonable for the United States to have a say in where our taxpayer dollars go and how they are spent. This is money that comes from the taxpayers of the United States. Israel has a right to defend itself, but it does not have a right to use American taxpayer funds in violation of international law, with little regard for civilian casualties.

I know when we use the word "conditioning' people become very alarmed. Oh my god! Terrible idea! Virtually every dollar that we appropriate has conditions attached to it. If you are on food stamps tonight, you've got conditions. If you are on unemployment, you've got conditions. You're on section 8 housing, you have conditions. We put conditions on everything! We don't give away money, we say you've got to be eligible for it. This is what you got to do, these are the requirements -- that's conditioning.

Conditioning aid, in fact, has been for a long time seen as a key to US policy tool regarding foreign governments, including Israel. It's not a new idea. The United States has routinely conditioned aid to countries including Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, to name a few. Presidents Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, and Clinton all conditioned aid to Israel to secure changes in their policies. President Reagan actually suspended certain arms deliveries and threatened to stop all military aid due to Israel's approach to the war in Lebanon. That's a condition, a pretty strong condition. Sending $14.3 billion to Netanyahu's government, on top of the $3.8 billion we provide every year and the billions in arms the US has already provided, with no strings attached, would be a huge mistake out of step with longstanding US policy and is not something I believe the American people want to see.

I have laid out what I believe some of these conditions should be, and that is: an end to indiscriminate bombing; a guarantee that displaced Palestinians will have the right to return to their homes; no long-term occupation or blockade of Gaza; a freeze on West Bank settlements there; and a commitment to broad peace talks for a two-state solution. Those are some of the conditions that I think we have more than a right to demand when we provide money to Israel.

Finally, M. President, let me end this on a personal note. There is no question that people all over this country have strong disagreements on the war and some of the issues that I have been discussing tonight -- that is part of the democratic process. And, in a democracy like ours, it is natural that these issues be debated and that people have different points of view. But what we cannot do under any circumstances is turn to violence because of our differences. Not to violence and not to bigotry. I have to say that, tragically, in my home state of Vermont, in the city that I live -- a city of 40,000 people, Burlington, Vermont -- we have experienced this form of violent hate. As I'm sure you know, a few days ago three young men, lovely young men, going to college and celebrating Thanksgiving in Burlington, Vermont were shot. And one of them is in very serious condition.

So as we all hope and pray for the recovery of Hisham, Kinnan, and Tahseen, the three young men who were shot, and await the findings of the investigation into this terrible act, let me say this again loudly and clearly. Hate has no place in my state of Vermont, or anyplace else in America. With Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate, anti-Semitism, and racism on the rise in this country, we must come together and remain resolute in our commitment to fighting all of forms of bigotry and intolerance.

President, I thank you and I yield."

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