On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that President Joe Biden is “absolutely right” to call for “the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire,” and “There’s got to be a ceasefire right now,” but acknowledged that hostages do have to be released as part of any deal and Hamas has said they don’t have enough living hostages to meet a proposed ceasefire deal.
Host Chris Hayes played a clip of Biden saying, “What I will tell you is I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his [approach]. I think it’s outrageous that those four — or three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out on a highway where it wasn’t like it was along the shore, it wasn’t like there was a convoy moving there, etc. So, what I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country.”
Hayes then asked, “What do you think of that position, Senator?”
Sanders answered, “Well, I think the President is absolutely right. There’s got to be a ceasefire right now, and there has got to be, the world has got to respond to this horrific emergency. … So, I think the President is right, there’s got to be a ceasefire. The world has got to respond in a dramatic way to get food to starving people. It’s not only food, when children are dying of malnutrition, it’s not just food, you need certain types of food. The medical facilities have been destroyed. But I’ll tell you this also, Chris, where the President is wrong, you don’t have to be begging Netanyahu into doing anything. We are supplying and have supplied Israel with huge amounts of money for decades. Right now, there is legislation that would give Israel — and I voted against that legislation — $10 billion more for unfettered military aid. The President has got to say, sorry, Netanyahu, you are not getting one penny more until that situation in Gaza radically changes. We’re not begging you anymore, we’re telling you. You want money, that’s what you’ve got to do, end of discussion.”
Hayes then said, “I want to ask you about a development that’s happened over the last few days and then just reported in The New York Times. So, obviously, for months now, there has been talk about some kind of deal, some sort of ceasefire deal. And, obviously, of the utmost importance from the Israeli side, are the hostages. We don’t know how many of those hostages are alive, we just don’t know the number. And this harrowing headline today, which suggests some real complications here, ‘Hamas Does Not Have 40 Hostages Who Meet Terms of Potential Swap With Israel, Officials Said‘ ‘A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday [that Hamas does not] have…40 living hostages in Gaza who meet the criteria for an exchange’ obviously, any deal has to have some reciprocity, and a hostage release is one of them. And now you’ve got Hamas saying, we don’t have them.”
Sanders responded, “It’s — look, this is a nightmare on top of a nightmare. I read that. Who knows, who knows how they died, why they died. But, obviously, you’re absolutely right, a hostage exchange, people now have been held under terrible conditions for months, and Israel has a right to demand their release, and that has got to be part of any package.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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