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Bernie Sanders and AOC Mark October 7 Anniversary with False Accusations Against Israel
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are seen before a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 21, 2024. Photo: Craig Hudson/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
One year to the day after Hamas slaughtered 1,200 men, women, and children — including 46 Americans — in southern Israel, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) lashed out with false accusations at the Israeli government.
Sanders’ and AOC’s claims were hardly original — yet coming from two large voices on the left, they deserve a thorough dissection.
To their credit, both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez began their statements by condemning the October 7 massacre as an instance of terrorism — a word that American journalists increasingly refuse to use.
Unfortunately, both quickly pivoted to condemnations of Israel, and specifically its prime minister. According to Sanders, “Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government” has not just targeted Hamas, but “waged total war against the Palestinian people.”
Yet it is Sanders who apparently can’t distinguish Hamas from the general population of Gaza.
The Vermont senator says that the war (which was started by Hamas) has claimed 41,000 Palestinian lives — a figure produced by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, although Sanders does not mention the source.
Hamas’ reliance on data from unidentified sources is a serious problem, but the more salient point is that its roster of the dead includes thousands upon thousands of Hamas gunmen and soldiers — a point the Hamas ministry does not dispute.
The Israelis estimate there have been 17,000 enemy fighters killed in action. Yet Sanders draws no distinction. It would be like equating dead Al-Qaeda operatives with Afghan civilians during the war that was started by the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Unlike Hamas, Israel is honest about what’s happening in Gaza.
Israel does not pretend that the war claims no civilian lives. Prime Minister Netanyahu said in May that 16,000 people had perished. When Hamas operates out of hospitals, schools, mosques, and UN buildings, it ensures that civilians will suffer. Yet Sanders remains quiet on this point, too.
A word is also in order about Sanders’ characterization of the Israeli government as “extremist.”
Five days after the events of October 7, Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz formed a national unity government that specifically excluded the most right-wing ministers from the “security cabinet” that would run the war. Yet acknowledging this would make it much harder for Sanders to portray the Israeli government as beyond the pale.
Ocasio-Cortez relies on the same rhetorical sleight-of-hand as her colleague from Vermont.
She claims that Netanyahu is not pursuing Hamas, but “mass revenge.”
She cites the Hamas health ministry’s death toll without attribution while failing to acknowledge it includes thousands upon thousands of enemy fighters killed in action. Then she moves to the claim that Israel is blocking humanitarian aid, “pushing Gaza to the brink of famine.” Sanders emphasized the same point, expressing concern that “many thousands of children facing malnutrition and starvation.”
A generous assessment of these assertions would conclude they are seriously out of date.
Six months ago, conventional wisdom held that famine in Gaza was “imminent.” The source of this forecast was the awkwardly-named but highly influential Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a UN-backed association of experts. It not only warned that famine would set in by the end of May, but that scores of children would begin dying of hunger each week. It insisted that only a ceasefire could enable the delivery of sufficient aid to prevent a catastrophe.
Israel was determined to prove this wrong.
UN figures showed that 2,874 truckloads of goods entered Gaza in February, or fewer than 100 per day. The number then rose to 4,993 in March and 5,671 in April. The UN has not been able to publish comprehensive figures since the beginning of May, but the Israeli government began to make its own data publicly available. Its online dashboard shows that 6,277 truckloads arrived in May, with the number decreasing gradually in subsequent months. All told, more than 54,000 trucks delivered their cargo to Gaza during the first year of the war.
In late June, the IPC published a revised assessment of the situation in Gaza. The percentage of residents facing the most severe food shortages had fallen from 30 to 15 percent, defying the IPC forecast that the number would rise to 50 percent. There were similar improvements in other categories, and no more talk of imminent famine. A typical headline, however, still read, “Famine will loom over Gaza as long as conflict rages.”
Neither the IPC nor journalists gave Israel much credit, but their fearful predictions never came to pass.
The final charge that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez level at Netanyahu is that he has “sabotaged” or “undermin[ed]” ceasefire negotiations.
The lawmakers may want to pass this information to the White House, where the National Security Council’s spokesman described Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as “the big obstacle” to a ceasefire, “no questions about it.”
Five years ago, Ocasio-Cortez vented her frustration with those who care more about being “factually and semantically correct” than being “morally right.” Perhaps she and Senator Sanders should consider the possibility that knowing the facts is what leads to being morally right.
David Adesnik is a senior fellow and director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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