Earlier this month, a UN report declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In a new op-ed, American senator Bernie Sanders has also now described Israel’s actions as “genocide”.
Yes, the war in Gaza is a genocide.
I hope you’ll take a moment to read my op-ed here:https://t.co/Aouot49mp5
— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 17, 2025
Sanders drew criticism for not labelling it a genocide before now; he has also received criticism for the way he discusses it in his new op-ed.
UK commentator Ash Sarkar referenced Sanders’ announcement, saying he has ‘finally’ described it as a genocide:
Bernie Sanders has finally called the war in Gaza genocide.
Remember when UK journalists said that me even asking him was “a cruel taunt to a man who lost family in the Shoah”? pic.twitter.com/apNY6kUWdI
— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) September 18, 2025
Genocide
Sanders has been described as a ‘liberal Zionist’, with people highlighting statements like the following from 2016:
As somebody who is 100 percent pro-Israel, in the long run, we are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity.
Speaking out on liberal Zionism, Israeli-American doctor Yoav Litvin wrote:
The Liberal flank of Zionism functions to sanitise and revise the reactionary, settler-colonialist and white supremacist essence of the movement and obscure its motivations – expansionism and apartheid. Duplicitously, it presents Zionism as compatible with democratic and progressive values and human rights, possessing a true desire for peace, justice and complete integration into the Middle East.
He added:
Liberal Zionists ahistorically present Israeli and Palestinian narratives as parallel truths, and both peoples as victims with legitimate claims and grievances requiring lengthy negotiations and difficult concessions before a compromise is reached. Thus, deploying colonising language, the Liberal Zionist revisionist narrative equates settler colonialist oppressors who hold all levers of power, with their Indigenous Palestinians victims.
In his op-ed, Sanders begins:
Hamas, a terrorist organization, began this war with its brutal attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages. Israel, as any other country, had a right to defend itself from Hamas.
But, over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas. Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. Many legal experts have now concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The International Association of Genocide Scholars concluded that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.” The Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have reached the same conclusion, as have international groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Just yesterday, an independent commission of experts appointed by the United Nations echoed this finding. These experts concluded that: “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
I agree.
The rest of the op-ed goes into further detail on the terrible toll the genocide has taken on the Palestinian people.
Criticism
One criticism Sanders received is that in describing the events of October 7th, he did not acknowledge that Israel instigated the ‘Hannibal Directive’. This protocol permits the Israeli military to use “any force necessary” to prevent combatants taking Israelis hostage. Use of the Hannibal Directive was reported on by Israeli outlet Haaretz, with Al Jazeera describing their findings as follows:
During the chaos, while Israeli army commanders struggled to fully grasp the scale of the assault by Hamas, it is alleged the directive was deployed at three military facilities. However, the orders failed to distinguish between soldiers being captured and civilians.
According to Haaretz, at 7:18am, during the early hours of the attack, a report of a kidnapping at Beit Hanoon, known to Israelis as Erez, a crossing between Israel and Gaza, the order given by the divisional headquarters was simply “Hannibal at Erez”, with no further explanation or clarification, suggesting its meaning was already well known to everyone included in the message.
A message sent to the Gaza Division about five hours after the attacks began, ordered: “Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza.”
A source within Israel’s Southern Command, responsible for policing parts of the borders with Egypt, Jordan and Gaza, subsequently told Haaretz: “Everyone knew by then that such vehicles could be carrying kidnapped civilians or soldiers … Everyone knew what it meant to not let any vehicles return to Gaza.”
A report from Electronic Intifada provides even further information on these events, including the following:
Nof Erez, the Israeli Air Force colonel who admitted that 7 October was a “mass Hannibal” event, answered positively when asked by the interviewer if they “exploded all kinds of houses inside the settlements.”
Erez insisted that his pilots only did so with “permission” from their superior officers. “I saw numerous drones above every settlement on a computer image, which we can see in every IDF [Israeli military] command,” he explained.Footage on Israeli TV has shown Israeli tanks present and firing in the settlement of Kibbutz Be’eri.
Most infamously, Brigadier General Barak Hiram admitted to ordering his tanks to fire at Pessi Cohen’s house in Kibbutz Be’eri – “even at the cost of the civilians,” as he told The New York Times.
The Sanders op-ed also contains several references to Trump and “the extremist Netanyahu government”. Sanders has drawn criticism in the past for focusing blame on Trump and Netanyahu when Israel’s increasing hostility towards the Palestinians has enjoyed broad bi-partisan support from all sides of the political spectrum in America, Israel, and the West.
Turning point
While many have noted Sanders is late in his appraisal, he is still ahead of every other US senator:
Bernie Sanders says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, becoming the first sitting U.S. senator to do so after nearly two years of Israel’s brutal assault on the Palestinian territory that has killed tens of thousands of people.
He also called on the U.S. to use “every ounce… pic.twitter.com/lYWrpeZe4q
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) September 17, 2025
Ilhan Omar has described Israel’s actions as genocide, but she sits in the House of Representatives as opposed to the Senate. Her fellow representative AOC described it as a genocide too, but despite this she voted to send Israel more ‘defensive’ weapons, receiving criticism as a result.
Following the UN’s announcement, other political figures are also now describing Israel’s actions as genocide:
I’m at an event in Hammersmith with Sadiq Khan.
He has finally said he thinks what’s happening in Gaza is a genocide.
Political pressure works. We must keep it up until they all speak the truth.
Stop selling arms to Israel. Ceasefire now. https://t.co/ePHFhzDEc9 pic.twitter.com/BTJ3mGafsJ
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) September 17, 2025
Featured image via Gage Skidmore (Flickr)
