Anti-War Lawmakers Tiptoe Around Harris’ Vow To Keep Arming Israel

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) reiterated their beliefs on Sunday that the United States should immediately stop funding Israel’s nearly yearlong military campaign in Gaza, but still tiptoed around the idea of directly pressuring Vice President Kamala Harris following her remarks that essentially vowed to continue arming a country accused by much of the international community of committing genocide against Palestinians.

One of the most prominent issues currently dividing the Democratic Party is Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza, which began more than 10 months ago when the Hamas militant group attacked the country that killed about 1,200 and took hundreds hostage, with about one hundred of them still remaining in the strip. Israel has since decimated the Palestinian enclave, killing more than 40,000 people, flattening entire neighborhoods, destroying life-saving infrastructure, and causing disease and starvation to spread largely due to blocking sufficient aid from entering.

The Biden administration has continued to unconditionally fund and arm the Israeli army, ignoring the pleas by Arab, Muslim and Palestinian Americans and their allies ― like Sanders and Warren ― to stop participating in the slaughter. Despite casting their ballots for “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary as a protest vote, some leaders and organizers have hoped that Harris, the party’s new presidential nominee, would be more easily swayed in stopping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his determination to wipe out Gaza.

“I happen to think that my views in this area are very different from President Biden’s views. I happen to think that we should not be giving another nickel to Netanyahu’s right-wing,