Sen. Bernie Sanders took aim at Israel for the feud with the Palestinians and argued that United States foreign aid should be leveraged against Israel to make them change their behavior.
"We have a right to say to the Israeli government that the United States of America and our taxpayers and our people believe in human rights, we believe in democracy, we will not accept authoritarianism or racism," the Vermont independent said Monday at the national J Street conference. "And we demand the Israeli government sit down with the Palestinian people and negotiate an agreement that works for all parties."
"I would use the leverage. $3.8 billion is a lot of money, and we cannot give it carte blanche to the Israeli government or for that matter to any government at all. We have a right to demand respect for human rights and democracy," he said.
Sanders called current Israel policy in Gaza "inhumane" and "unsustainable."
Skeptics quickly labeled the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate's policy proposal a "quid pro quo."
House Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry into President Trump over whether he offered the Ukrainian president a quid pro quo to investigate Joe Biden in exchange for military aid. Sanders backs the impeachment inquiry. The socialist has been a longstanding critic of U.S. policy toward Israel. He stated this summer, "Our policy cannot just be pro-Israel, pro-Israel, pro-Israel. It has got to be pro-region."
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