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In an unusual twist, AIPAC praises Bernie Sanders over his Israel-Hamas ceasefire stance
WASHINGTON (JTA) — For a few hours on Sunday, the unthinkable happened on social media: AIPAC promoted a clip of Bernie Sanders talking about Israel.
Hours later, that praise prompted Sanders to write a post distancing himself from the pro-Israel lobby.
Sanders, the Jewish Vermont senator and unofficial leader of progressives on Capitol Hill, has broken with many of his allies in recent weeks over their approach to Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. While members of Congress such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib have called for an immediate ceasefire in the fighting, Sanders has backed the position of the Israeli government and Biden administration — opposing a ceasefire because it would leave Hamas in power after it killed and wounded thousands in its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
“Well, I don’t know how you could have a ceasefire, permanent ceasefire, with an organization like Hamas, which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel,” Sanders told Dana Bash on CNN’s ” State of the Union.” “And I think what the Arab countries in the region understand [is] that Hamas has got to go.”
Within an hour of the interview, soon after 11 a.m., the American Israel Public Affairs Committee posted the clip on X, the platform formerly known on Twitter.
“Sanders answers @DanaBashCNN about fellow progressives calling for a ceasefire,” AIPAC said, and tagged a number of those progressives, including Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Cori Bush of Missouri, Jamaal Bowman of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.
“Thank you @SenSanders for your clear and principled opposition to calls for a ceasefire with Hamas,” it said in another tweet two hours later.
The series of comments accentuated a fissure between progressives advocating for an immediate halt in the fighting and others — led by Sanders and, in the U.S. House of Representatives, Ro Khanna of California — who are not ready to press for an immediate ceasefire, but who want Democrats to be more outspoken in calling Israel out for its excesses.
The episode also prompted some former Sanders fans to denounce him.
“Biggest political disappointment of our generation,” wrote Briahna Joy Gray, the top spokeswoman for Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, in one notable response.
AIPAC’s friendliness was jarring, given acrimony in recent years between Sanders and AIPAC. Before he ran for president in 2016, Sanders enjoyed a cordial relationship with the lobby and attended its annual conferences. But he skipped the conference in 2016 to campaign, and AIPAC would not allow him to address it remotely — an option it had offered candidates four years earlier. Four years later, mounting his second presidential campaign, Sanders heeded calls from progressives and declined to address AIPAC.
Later on Sunday, Sanders made clear that the affection wasn’t mutual. In a post on X, he wrote, “@AIPAC has supported dozens of GOP extremists who are undermining our democracy,” he said. “They’re now working hard to defeat progressive members of Congress. We won’t let that happen. Let us stand together in the fight for a world of peace, economic and social justice and climate sanity.”
The post was a nod to Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent progressives, who posted the same critique of AIPAC days earlier. In a post on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez called AIPAC “racist and bigoted,” as well as “an extremist organization that destabilizes US democracy.” On Monday, Punchbowl News reported that Mike Casca, Sanders’ deputy chief of staff, was taking a new job as Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff.
An official in Sanders’ office confirmed that Sanders wrote his post in part because he wanted to make clear that he was not happy with AIPAC’s praise. Elsewhere in the CNN interview, Sanders also made clear that he disagrees with Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza and advocated a position AIPAC vehemently opposes — that aid to Israel should be conditioned on its behavior.
“It is no great secret that the United States provides $3.8 billion every year to Israel,” he said. “Now they can say that they don’t want the money — fine. But if they’re going to take our money and Biden wants to give them even more, they have got to recognize that they cannot offend American values, what we stand for what civilized world stands for.”
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The post In an unusual twist, AIPAC praises Bernie Sanders over his Israel-Hamas ceasefire stance appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.