Bernie Sanders continues to tiptoe around ceasefire position

After Israel's war in Gaza broke out, many expected US Senator Bernie Sanders to be among the first to call for a ceasefire.

Instead, as the list of congressional supporters for a ceasefire grows, including Sanders' federally elected colleagues from Vermont, he has continued to say that a ceasefire would not be feasible, justifying this by saying Hamas would continue violence.

He did, however, condemn the US for not supporting a United Nations vote for a ceasefire in October.

"I really don't understand Bernie's position. He won't say permanent ceasefire, but wants a humanitarian ceasefire, and wants to condition aid to Israel. So, it seems the issue is with the word permanent, which is not what the Tlaib-Bush bill calls for anyway," Adam Shapiro, director of advocacy for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now, told The New Arab, referring to the Congressional ceasefire resolution.

"It seems that he just doesn't believe that any ceasefire with Hamas is credible because he maintains that Hamas is ultimately only interested in destroying Israel," he said, emphasising that such a position neglects to consider the historical context of the conflict.

"In any conflict both sides use force to compel decisions made by their opponent, and diplomacy is another means by which to do that. But Bernie's position is reactionary and completely inconsistent with his previous statements and positions," said Shapiro.

Sanders has repeatedly said that US military aid to Israel should be conditional on its human rights record, arguably a form of diplomacy.

In an interview earlier this month with CBS, Sanders tried to clarify his position, emphasising that he wants a humanitarian pause to allow for aid, but not a permanent ceasefire.

In his interview, Sanders said he supported "a humanitarian pause, a humanitarian ceasefire, that would have by the way called for the release of all of the hostages held by Hamas, and what have allowed the UN and other agencies to begin to supply the enormous amount of humanitarian aid that the Palestinians need". 

However, he added, "In terms of a permanent ceasefire, I don't know how you could have a permanent ceasefire with Hamas who has said before October 7, and after October 7, that they want to destroy Israel. They want a permanent war. I don't know how you have a permanent ceasefire with an attitude like that."

He went on to emphasise his belief that US funding to Israel should be conditioned on its human rights record, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

Though his progressive supporters have welcomed his outspokenness on military aid, many have still not given up on pushing for him to call for a ceasefire, and a coordinated campaign to advocate for him to support a ceasefire continues.