On Wednesday November 20th, Senator Bernie Sanders brought to the floor of the U.S. Senate a vote to block the sale of tank rounds to Israel. Senator Sanders actually had the gall to stand on the Senate floor and blatently tell lies to the American people. He said Israel is intentionally starving civilians in Gaza, pointing to the picture behind him — promoted by Hamas propaganda outlet Al Jazeera — as evidence. The truth?? The boy in the picture, Fadi, has cystic fibrosis and requires advanced medical support. Israel facilitated his exit from Gaza to a US hospital where he received the care he needed. Israel is surging more aid into Gaza than international organizations are able to handle. There is currently a backlog of approximately 850 trucks worth of aid inside Gaza waiting to be distributed. Sanders also accused Israel of preventing a ceasefire/hostage deal when the U.S. has reiterated time and time again that it is Hamas, not Israel, that has rejected offer after offer after offer. Why should anybody be surprised that Bernie would lie to Americans. It’s what he does best.
His efforts failed miserably, once again. This time the vote was 79-19, overwhelming suppport for Israel. Now that his effort to abandon American hostages and support terrorists have failed, let’s talk about Senator Sanders and a few other Senators who either voted for this antisemitic, anti-American, anti-American hostages in Gaza attempt to harm our ally, Israel, or those who allowed it to happen. Let’s also look at some Senators who took very vocal stands against this horrible idea so we can compare and contrast.
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VM)
Bernie Sanders has made a career of ‘public service’. From 1981 through today, that has been his only job. From Mayor of Burlington to a member of U.S. House of Representatives, to the U.S. Senate, government jobs have been his career. A noble effort many might say. Yet somehow he managed to own three homes, a row house in Capitol Hill, a house in Burlington’s New North End neighborhood, and a lakefront summer home in North Hero. Not too shabby on a public servant’s salary. He has a reported net worth of over $3 million dollars, one of the 1% he rails against. He gets the special health insurance offered only to members of Congress while pushing medicare for all for the rest. He speaks one thing and acts personally another way. The definition of a hypocrite.
In addition, he has a personal hate for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Rather than the war being one of Israel’s survival, he calls it “Netanyahu’s savage war”. Instead of focusing on the hostages in Gaza including Americans, he repeats the Hamas/Iranian lies and overstates what it happening. He defends those who followed the terrorists on October 7th to loot and steal, calling them innocent. He defended the rioters and looters after George Floyd’s murder, comparing them to the uprising in China after Tianamen Square in 1989 yet doesn’t see any justice with Israel fighting back after 1200 people were murdered in a violent invasion on October 7th and more than 250 people taken hostage, with 101 remaining hostages 400+ days later.
Bernie Sanders pretends to be one of the people and for the people but has shown he is really all for himself, all for his ego, all for gaining and keeping his own power. If he cared about people he would have spent the last 400 days fighting for the release of the hostages. Fighting for the surrender of Hamas to end military action. Fighting for justice. Instead, he fights for his hate of Netanyahu and his “Jewish” upbringing which resents. History will remember him for his hatred, hypocrisy, and not kindly.
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA)
Senator Fetterman has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel and the Jewish people. He understands the fight against evil that is ongoing. He understands you must defeat evil, you cannot negotiate with it nor can you allow it to fester as it only returns stronger.
In his office, he keeps posters of the hostages held in Gaza as a permanent reminder of what matters to him, people. He advocates on behalf of the hostages, their families, and all of those harmed by the actions of Hamas on October 7th. He never forgets that it is Iran who is behind this and that they are the core threat, a threat to not just Israel but to America.
Senator Fetterman has taken on Bernie Sanders directly and publicly disagreeing with him. He calls him out. After the pager attack which devastated Hezbollah and is directly leading to an opportunity for a lasting peace today, Bernie Sanders once again lies and blames Netanyahu for blocking peace when it has been proven over and over again that it has been Hamas and Hezbollah. When asked if there is anything at all he agrees with his colleague on in this regard, Senator Fetterman is crystal clear on what he thinks, believes, and stands for.
Senator Fetterman shows morals, ethics, and values. He stands clearly for what he believes. There is a moral clarity he exudes that is missing from people like…..
Senator Reverend Raphael Wernock (D-GA)
Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock is a man of God. He has dedicated his life improving the world. This makes both his vote and his silence about his vote even more disappointing and troubling. As a man of God, Senator Warnock knows the difference between good and evil. As an American he knows how important getting back American hostages are yet has been silent on those still held in Gaza. He has been on the wrong side of issues like going into Rafa, where the leadership of Hamas was hiding and where tunnels into Egypt were discovered. These tunnels were how rockets and weapons were getting into Gaza to attack Israel. He called going into Rafah “morally unjustifiable” when the facts now show it was the only moral thing to do.
As a man of faith, Senator Reverend Warnock is about love, kindness, and peace, except when it comes to Israel. The rest of the world deserves to live in peace but not Israel. The citizens of the world deserve safety and security, but not Israel. On Wednesday he voted in favor of withholding the weapons needed to defeat evil and worst of all, he has remained silent about his vote. He hasn’t come out with a statement explaining his vote. He hasn’t spoken publicly about his position and rationale behind it. Perhaps the fact that he just won a new 6 year term to the Senate makes him think he doesn’t need to be accountable. As a man of God, he knows better. He knows he is always held accountable for his actions. It saddens me to see somebody who has spent his life devoted to preaching the gospel, to sharing about love and kindness, act in such a different manner publicly and then hide from his actions. Perhaps he thinks this new 6 year term means he isn’t accountable. The rest of us know differently.
Georgia State Representative Esther Panitch (D)
In order to be honest and fair, I must disclose that Representative Panitch is married to a childhood friend, I am childhood friends with her brother-in-law, and I took her sister-in-law to my high school senior prom. Representative Panitch is the only Jewish member of the Georgia House of Representatives. She is outspoken in her support of protecting Jews, fighting antisemitism, and support of Israel. She also speaks out against all hatred and bigotry and is somebody who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and live by her core values, morals, and ethics. Before the vote, Representative Panitch publicly urged both of her Georgia Senators to vote no on the bill. When they both voted in favor of it, she had no problem speaking out publicly about her disappointment. Unlike Senator Warnock, who still remains silent about his vote, Representative Panitch issued this powerful and impressive statement.
She shows that it isn’t impossible to be an elected official and hold true to your morals, ethics, and values. It does take courage and I salute her for doing so.
Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA)
Senator Ossoff, who ran on his Jewish credentials, voted against what most of his constituents wanted and in favor of terrorists. In his explanation, he chooses to cited what President Reagan did in 1982. He neglects the changes that Israel was invaded, 1200 people murdered, over 250 people taken hostage, 101 remaining hostages for over 400 days including Americans. He neglects the nonstop bombing of Israel from Gaza and Lebanon, the two missile attacks from Iran including the second comprised of over 300 ballistic missiles. He cites the Hamas (Iranian) propoganda about massive civilian deaths even when the facts show the UN/Red Cross acceptable ratio is 9 civilians for every 1 combatant in urban warfare and Israel is close to a 1 civilian for every 1 combatant ratio. He pretends that Israel is not in a fight for her life, for her existance, against a genocidal Iranian regime. He becomes the latest in line to be willing to sacrifice the Jewish people on behalf of his masters. He thinks that somehow, his efforts will keep him safe when they come for all the Jews, forgetting the lessons throughout history that they come for all of us, even those who thought we were one of them.
Senator Ossoff talks about violent uprising but doesn’t mention Turkey and the Kurds. He doesn’t mention Syria. He doesn’t mention China. He conveniently forgets what happened in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland and other cities after the George Floyd murder. The riots. The violence. The destruction. He chooses to continue the blood libel against the Jews by targeting Israel.
In all honesty, I have never been a fan of his. After seeing his vote and listening to this speech, the only word that comes to mind is disgrace.
President Joe Biden
There has been a lot of criticism of President Biden when it comes to his support of Israel. This week, President Biden was clear where he stood. His staff advocated against the anti-Israel Senate resolutions, and held firm to his proposed weapons sales to Israel even as 19 of Democrats took a stand against him. He ensure the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” yet didn’t say anything about the release of all hostages in Gaza. On a day when 19 Democratic Senators voted to halt sales of certain arms to Israel, President Biden stood firm, not only against them but in support of Israel on the world State. Ambassador Robert Wood, the U.S. alternate permanent representative to the U.N. told the UN Security council, “Simply put, this resolution would’ve sent a dangerous message to Hamas: There’s no need to come back to the negotiating table.” My only question for President Biden is where was this 400 days ago? 350 days ago? 300 days ago? This show of leadership makes a statement to the world that the United States stands against evil, against terrorism, and demands the freeing of the hostages.
Senator Chuck Schumer
Senator Chuck Schumer likes to cloak himself in his Jewish identity and pretend to be a force for supporting Israel and the Jewish people. That’s the image he has of himself and that he tries to portray. The truth is showing itself to be just the opposite.
Last month, a House of Representatives report was released that showed Chuck Schumer quietly advised Columbia leaders to ignore criticism of campus antisemitism. Unlike Representative Elise Stefanik who chose to take on the Jew hatred from the Ivy leagues schools like Columbia and other campuses around the country, Senator Schumer enabled the leadership of Columbia to continue their antisemitic behavior.
That hasn’t been enough for Senator Schumer. He refused to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act to floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote after it passed the U.S. House of Representatives. He continues to block it from a vote, which would pass, and protect Jewish students on college campuses from rising antisemitism. This has been Senator Schumer’s decision and his alone. He has the power to bring it to a vote yet refuses to do so. Every day, as antisemitism rages on college campuses, it is Senator Schumer who bears the responsibility for failing to take action.
Yesterday, Senator Schumer did allow a bill to come to the floor of the U.S. Senate. This was the bill by Senator Bernie Sanders to block arms sales to Israel. This self-created icon of the Jewish people, this self proclaimed defender of Israel, chooses not to protect Jewish students on American campuses while encouraging America to stop providing vital military aid to Israel. You may argue that he voted against the bill and it was his job to allow it on the Senate floor, however that falls flat when you consider he chose not to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the floor. He picks and chooses what comes to the floor, as every leader of the Senate does. These two choices show us who he really is and what he really stands for. It’s not for the Jewish people and it’s not for Israel. It is for Chuck Schumer.
So, is anybody surprised that hours after more than 30% of the Democrats in the Senate voted to suspend weapon sales to Israel that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant? The world watches America to see where we lean. Do we exhibit strength or weakness. Do we defend our allies or do we let them hang alone? Our current leaders won’t bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the floor but will bring a bill to stop arms sales to Israel to the floor. That sent a clear message to the ICC that if they are going to issue the arrest warrants, they better do it while this government is still in charge.
The same thought process is happening with the leadership of Hezbollah and Hamas. Reports today came out that Hezbollah is willing to agree to the US peace proposal “with comments”. We don’t know what those comments are yet, but they know that any chance they have of getting what they want only exists with this weak leadership in place. Details of the potential ceasefire arrangement are emerging: The Lebanese Army would take primary responsibility for preventing Hezbollah’s return to southern Lebanon. If Israel detects Hezbollah attempting to rebuild infrastructure, it would notify the Lebanese Army through U.S. channels to take action. Should the Lebanese Army fail to respond, Israel would retain the right to act directly, particularly against immediate threats such as attack preparations or weapons shipments.
The proposed agreement would allow Lebanese civilians to return to their damaged villages, with Israel forgoing a formal security zone in southern Lebanon. While UNIFIL peacekeepers would maintain a presence, Israeli officials don’t view them as crucial to enforcing Hezbollah’s removal. Instead, Israel plans to maintain operational flexibility to counter any Hezbollah presence through direct action or coordination with Lebanese forces via U.S. mediation.
Hezbollah knows this is the best it will get and are scrambling while a weak U.S. government is in place to keep as much as they can.
Hamas reportedly wants to advance a hostage deal, and no longer demands an IDF withdrawal from Gaza . Instead they seek a temporary truce that would be followed by renewed military operations. This isn’t because diplomacy has worked. This is because they have seen the strength of Israel. They know that a new government is coming in January that won’t tolerate their lies. They are grasping at whatever they can. Imagine if our government would have exuded strength 400 days ago. 300 days ago. 200 days ago. We could have been at this point then. The hostages could all be home. Thousands of lives could have been saved.
This is the price we pay for letting the lies of Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, AOC, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman grow and spread. This is the price we pay for allowing the lies of Hamas and Hezbollah to be reported as fact. This is the price we pay for not living up to our values and morals. Strong support for Israel from the beginning and throughout could have brought this to a close hundreds of days ago with thousands of lives saved. Instead, we allowed the hatred of small minded leaders to overwhelm us. I thank Senator Fetterman, President Biden (at times), GA Representative Panitch, and all those who won’t tolerate the lies.
I have intentionally focused only on Democrats in this piece because it was 19 Democrates who voted for the bill with 32 voting against it. There are nearly twice as many Democrats who stood for good over evil. The 19 who chose evil need to be called out. There are many others that are not Democrats that join with the 32 who chose good over evil. I want to end with my second favorite Marco Rubio video of all time (my favorite is him wishing my son Evan a happy Bar Mitzvah and giving him a charge to be a responsible and good adult). We need more people to speak up like Senator Fetterman does and like Senator Rubio does here. It’s not that hard. It takes morals, ethics, and courage. We need to demand more from all of our leaders. We have some that show us we can get it. Let’s not settle for less.
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