During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about the need for an immediate ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and a clear path to long-term peace.
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00:00 Mr. President, the situation in Gaza today is a disaster.
00:11 Congress must take action.
00:14 The administration must take action.
00:18 The world must take action.
00:21 Today, three weeks after Hamas's barbaric attack
00:27 against civilians in Israel, which began this war,
00:32 many hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women,
00:36 and children in Gaza are on the brink.
00:42 Over the past three weeks, it is estimated
00:45 that some 8,000 people in Gaza have been killed in bombings,
00:53 including more than 3,000 children, and far more
00:58 have been wounded.
01:00 More than a million people in Gaza
01:03 have been displaced from their homes,
01:07 and some 670,000 are sheltering in UN installations
01:15 where they are down to one liter of water
01:21 per person per day.
01:24 They lack sufficient food, water, medical supplies,
01:30 or fuel.
01:32 The hospitals and medical facilities
01:35 there are in nightmarish conditions,
01:39 with hundreds of babies in incubators and patients
01:44 on life support at risk of death should the generators that
01:49 sustain them run out of fuel.
01:53 Corridors aligned with injured and displaced people
01:58 and overwhelmed doctors must turn patients away or operate
02:05 without anesthesia or antibiotics.
02:11 The humanitarian crisis is dire and getting worse
02:16 by the minute.
02:18 There must be a humanitarian pause now
02:23 so that sufficient supplies, food, water, medicine, fuel,
02:29 can reach the people of Gaza.
02:33 If not, thousands more will die needlessly.
02:38 We cannot allow that to happen.
02:43 A stop to the bombing is critical to save innocent lives
02:49 and secure the safe return of hostages.
02:53 Mr. President, let us never forget
02:57 the lives of all children, all people are sacred,
03:04 whether they are Palestinian children, Israeli children,
03:08 or American children.
03:10 And we must do everything we can to protect them.
03:16 But Mr. President, if we are going
03:19 to make any real progress in addressing this never-ending
03:24 conflict between Israel and Hamas,
03:29 there have been five wars in the last 15 years.
03:35 We need to understand somewhat as to how
03:39 we got to where we are today.
03:43 If peace is to come to that troubled region,
03:48 and if the Palestinian people are ever
03:51 going to be able to enjoy lives of security and dignity,
03:57 there must be a vision of where we go in the future.
04:05 So let us be clear.
04:08 The living conditions in Gaza before October 7th
04:17 were horrific and inhumane.
04:22 And that is before Hamas ignited the latest war.
04:28 Before this conflict, in Gaza nearly 80% of people
04:34 there lived in poverty, and 2/3 were reliant
04:40 on humanitarian assistance.
04:43 Almost half the population and over 70% of young people
04:50 were unemployed in Gaza.
04:52 What kind of life could they look forward to?
04:58 Electricity there was intermittent,
05:01 with 11 to 12-hour blackouts every day.
05:06 Water and sanitation systems were inadequate,
05:11 and there were constant shortages
05:13 of all basic necessities.
05:18 Gaza was mostly cut off from the world,
05:21 with Israel and Egypt severely limiting
05:25 the number of people and types of goods
05:28 that could go in or out.
05:31 In fact, many observers described Gaza
05:35 as "an open-air prison."
05:40 And all of that is before October 7th.
05:45 Mr. President, if we are serious about bringing freedom
05:52 and dignity to the Palestinian people,
05:56 that is a situation that can never be allowed
06:00 to be returned to.
06:02 The Palestinian people are entitled
06:05 to much more than that.
06:08 In Gaza, Hamas, an authoritarian terrorist organization,
06:16 ruled by force, stockpiling arms and war material,
06:23 taxing the desperately poor population,
06:26 and stealing resources to build tunnels and rockets.
06:32 Make no mistake about it,
06:35 Hamas is a terrorist organization
06:38 bent on the destruction of Israel.
06:41 And long before this horrific attack,
06:45 they had killed countless innocent people,
06:48 including Americans.
06:50 They advance a fundamentalist ideology
06:55 which treats women as inferior,
06:59 second-class citizens,
07:01 and which threatens to kill people who are gay.
07:06 Hamas is an authoritarian nightmare,
07:09 repressing dissent and stealing from Gazans
07:14 not just many materials of life,
07:18 but the dream of a better future.
07:22 And that was the situation before October 7th.
07:27 And what was going on in Israel
07:31 before Hamas' terrorist attack?
07:33 What was going on there?
07:35 That country had the most right-wing government
07:39 in its history,
07:41 a cabinet that included outright racist ministers
07:45 who consistently dehumanized the Palestinian population.
07:51 Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister,
07:54 was under indictment for a litany of corruption charges,
08:00 and many believe that Israel's intelligence
08:03 or lack of intelligence on October 7th
08:07 had everything to do with his government's preoccupation
08:10 with his political problems.
08:14 Before the war, this right-wing Israeli government
08:19 had systematically undermined the prospects of peace.
08:24 Netanyahu and his extreme partners in the cabinet
08:28 had worked to marginalize Palestinian voices
08:31 committed to peace,
08:33 pursued settlement policies
08:35 designed to foreclose the possibility
08:38 of a two-state solution,
08:40 stymied economic development in Palestinian areas,
08:45 and passed laws that entrenched systemic inequality
08:50 between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
08:56 This last year saw record Israeli settlement growth
09:01 in the West Bank,
09:03 where more than 700,000 Israelis now live in areas
09:08 the United Nations and United States agree
09:12 are occupied territories.
09:15 Despite that, the Israeli government
09:18 authorized thousands of new homes for settlers
09:22 and opened up new areas to construction
09:26 while bulldozing thousands of Palestinian homes and schools
09:30 and further restricting the Palestinian movement.
09:34 Legal experts agree these policies
09:38 constituted nothing less than illegal annexation.
09:45 All of these policies and more
09:47 greatly increased tension in the West Bank.
09:52 Before October 7th,
09:54 179 Palestinians had been killed in 2023 --
10:00 179 Palestinians in the West Bank --
10:03 which made it the deadliest year in two decades.
10:07 Since October 7th,
10:10 121 more Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank,
10:14 including some by settlers.
10:18 These tensions were part of why so much of the IDF,
10:22 the Israeli Defense Force, was deployed in the West Bank
10:26 rather than the border with Gaza.
10:30 And then came October 7th and Hamas's atrocities
10:37 that began this latest and horrific war.
10:42 The Hamas attack was unspeakable.
10:46 Over 1,300 innocent men, women,
10:48 and children in Israel were killed.
10:53 Over 200 Israelis and Americans taken hostage,
10:57 including young children and grandparents.
11:01 Young people were gunned down in cold blood
11:04 at a music festival, babies and older people
11:07 brutally murdered in their homes.
11:09 And let's remember that Hamas did not primarily target
11:14 the military, no.
11:16 They intentionally targeted civilians.
11:20 Their goal was to kill civilians.
11:23 Their attack was designed to provoke a response,
11:26 and in that, they succeeded.
11:30 Mr. President, many Israelis are now understandably furious,
11:38 and they want to strike back forcefully.
11:40 I think we can all understand that.
11:43 But rage and revenge do not make useful policy.
11:50 And here in the United States,
11:52 after the attack on 9/11 in this country,
11:57 we acted with rage and revenge,
12:00 and I think many people now understand
12:03 that that was a horrific mistake.
12:06 Mr. President, killing innocent Palestinian women
12:10 and children in Gaza will not bring back to life
12:15 the innocent Israeli women and children
12:18 who have been killed by Hamas.
12:22 Like any other country, Israel has the right to defend itself
12:25 and destroy Hamas terrorism.
12:28 But it does not have the right to kill thousands of innocent
12:33 men, women, and children in Gaza.
12:36 Israel does not have the right to endanger
12:39 the lives of millions of Palestinians,
12:42 half of whom are children,
12:44 by shutting off water, food, fuel, and electricity.
12:48 That type of action against a helpless
12:51 and impoverished population is morally unacceptable
12:55 and in violation of international law.
13:00 Israel does not have the right to bomb an entire neighborhood
13:04 to target one Hamas leader or installation,
13:08 but that is what the Israeli government is doing.
13:12 One need only look at the satellite imagery
13:15 and photography of Gaza to see that this is not
13:18 a carefully calibrated campaign.
13:23 These are not surgical strikes.
13:26 Yesterday, Israel struck the densely populated Jabalia
13:32 refugee camp and killed a Hamas commander.
13:37 But they also killed some 50 other people
13:40 and injured hundreds more,
13:43 though the exact toll is not yet known.
13:46 And that was actually the fourth airstrike on that community.
13:52 An October 9th airstrike killed 60.
13:54 An October 19th airstrike killed 18.
13:58 An October 22nd airstrike killed 30,
14:01 according to outside researchers.
14:05 UNRWA reported yesterday that their head of security,
14:09 that is the United Nations Relief Agency,
14:14 their head of security was killed
14:16 along with his wife and eight children.
14:20 In total, 67 United Nations Relief Agency workers
14:26 have been killed, and 44 United Nations facilities
14:31 have been damaged since October 7th.
14:33 Mr. President, the current Israeli strategy must end.
14:46 Israel must begin the process of restoring water
14:51 and electrical services to areas where they are still operable.
14:56 The international community must also rush generators
15:00 and solar capacity to Gazan medical facilities
15:04 to address acute needs
15:06 and reduce Israeli fears of diversion to Hamas.
15:11 Israel will not stop going after Hamas,
15:14 but it must do it in a very, very different way,
15:20 and additional pauses will be needed.
15:23 Mr. President, let me conclude by saying
15:25 that Israel must also begin the process
15:29 of laying out a political strategy.
15:31 It cannot bomb its way to a solution.
15:35 Such a strategy must include, as minimum first steps,
15:39 a clear promise that Palestinians
15:42 displaced in the fighting will have the absolute right
15:46 to safely return to their homes,
15:48 a commitment to broader peace talks
15:50 to advance a two-state solution in the wake of this war,
15:56 an abandonment of Israeli efforts
15:57 to carve up and annex the West Bank,
16:00 and a commitment to work with the Palestinian Authority
16:04 to build genuine governing capacity.
16:07 The United States must make it clear
16:10 that these are the conditions of our solidarity.
16:15 Just as we want justice for the Israelis murdered by Hamas,
16:19 we also want justice for the Palestinian people,
16:22 and that is not going to happen with Hamas.
16:27 Palestinians need a state of their own,
16:29 contiguous with the freedom of movement and access
16:33 that can sustain a vibrant economy.
16:37 Mr. President, this will be a long and difficult road.
16:41 It will take concerted US and international support
16:45 and a doubling down of our political commitment
16:47 to a two-state solution.
16:50 But the first step right now must be to stop the bombing
16:56 and bring in as much humanitarian aid as possible.
17:01 I think Secretary Blinken said it well when he said,
17:04 quote, "Providing immediate aid and protection
17:08 for Palestinian civilians in the conflict
17:11 is a necessary foundation for finding partners in Gaza
17:15 who have a different vision for the future than Hamas
17:19 and who are willing to help make it real."
17:21 End of quote.
17:23 Mr. President, this is a dreadful situation.
17:28 It is part of a very, very long-term conflict
17:32 between Israel and its neighbors.
17:35 But the immediate crisis is the stay of lives,
17:38 to stop the bombing, to bring forth a humanitarian pause,
17:43 and then to go forward to bring peace
17:46 and stability to the region.
17:48 Thank you very much.
17:50 I yield the floor.