Bernie Sanders becomes first senator to acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
Senator Bernie Sanders said on Wednesday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, calling the conclusion “inescapable” and becoming the first US senator to use the term.
“Over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas,” Sanders wrote. “Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.”
Sanders had long received flak from supporters and protesters alike for avoiding the term, which he previously said made him “queasy” when protesters chanted it last year during a speech in Ireland.
On Monday, an independent UN commission of experts concluded that Israel’s actions “meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide convention”.
“I agree,” Sanders wrote in a statement on his Senate webpage titled, “It Is Genocide. The intent is clear.” [Continue reading…]
In 1995 President Nelson Mandela of South Africa asked me to serve as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The judicial panel over which I presided convicted three Rwandans of genocide. So I understand the word “genocide,” and it is not one I use lightly. It is the deliberate attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, a people. It represents the most serious violation of our shared humanity and the gravest breach of international law.
Today the United Nations commission that I lead is publishing its legal analysis of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip. Our conclusion is stark: Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This finding is based on investigations and extensive evidence into the period between Oct. 7, 2023, when the war began, and July 31, 2025. It has been corroborated by multiple sources and assessed through the rigorous legal framework of the U.N. Genocide Convention of 1948, to which Israel is a party.
My organization, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, was established by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in 2021. It is overseen by appointed experts who are supported by staff from the U.N. secretariat. The Commission reports its findings to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly. [Continue reading…]