Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont and ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025.

Israel has gone well past self-defence and is now conducting a genocide in the Gaza Strip, Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent, Vermont) said on Wednesday in a lengthy statement laying out his agreement with a United Nations panel that found the situation met the legal definition of genocide.

Sanders is the first senator to apply the term to Israel, which has been waging war in the tiny strip of land with the aid of US taxpayer dollars for nearly two years. A few other elected Democrats, such as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat, New York) and Ilhan Omar (Democrat, Minnesota), have been using the word for months.

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (Democrat, Massachusetts) said last month that there was “genocide and destruction” unfolding in Gaza, but later backpedaled.

Sanders cited a number of devastating statistics: Over 65,000 people have been killed, with........

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