In an interview with Pod Save America last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading an “extreme right-wing government with many racist tendencies.”
“I am not anti-Israel, okay? I believe that the people of Israel have absolutely the right to live in peace, independence and security,” Sanders said.
“But I think what has happened is in recent years under Netanyahu, you have an extreme right-wing government with many racist tendencies… This is not easy stuff, to try to finally bring peace to the Middle East and to treat the Palestinian people with a kind of respect and dignity they deserve. Our policy cannot just be pro-Israel, pro-Israel, pro-Israel. It has got to be pro-region working with all of the people, all of the countries in that area,” he added.
Sanders did not address the real stumbling block to Middle East peace: the fact that nothing will satisfy the “Palestinian people” and “all the countries in that area” short of the eradication of Israel from the map.