Tim Kaine, Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2016 and a leading voice in the party on foreign policy, delivered a rare rebuke of the Biden administration’s approach to Israel on Friday — the latest sign of a growing groundswell of discontent after a strike in Gaza killed seven aid workers.
The Virginia senator said in a statement that American’s current position toward its ally is “not working,” adding that Israeli’s deadly attack on World Central Kitchen workers this week “crystallizes the frustration that is at a boiling point.”
Kaine praised President Joe Biden for nudging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to open another border crossing from Israel to allow robust delivery of humanitarian aid. But this was an obvious solution that should have happened months ago.” He added that the Biden administration should prioritize giving Israel defensive weapons while “withholding bombs and other offensive weapons that can kill and wound civilians and humanitarian aid workers.”
His statement follows renewed pressure on Biden to get tougher from a longtime critic of the Israeli government, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Asked what Biden’s message to the Israeli leader should be, the prominent progressive and vocal Netanyahu critic replied to the “Pod Save America” podcast in an episode released Friday: “Mr. Netanyahu, I’m here to inform you that … if thousands of trucks do not get in to start feeding starving people — all military aid will cease. Have a nice day.”
“One day the president is angry at Netanyahu, the next day he’s very angry. And the next day is very, very angry, you know. So what?” added Sanders, in a pointed bit of criticism just two days after appearing with Biden at a White House drug pricing event. “You cannot continue to talk about your worries about [the] humanitarian situation in Gaza, and then give Netanyahu $10 billion or more bombs. You cannot do that. That is hypocritical.”
The $10 billion figure is a reference to the Senate-passed foreign aid package that Sanders recently opposed over its unconditional aid for Israel; it also included assistance for Ukraine and Taiwan. It faces an uncertain future in the GOP-led House as Speaker Mike Johnson mulls how to proceed.
Sanders, whose liberal supporters represent a constituency that Biden has struggled to win over ahead of the November election, acknowledged that many Palestinian Americans and young people are frustrated with Biden’s handling of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. But, he argued, voting for Donald Trump or a third-party candidate this fall would lead to worse outcomes.
“I say to that young person: Your gut feeling is right,” Sanders continued. “But all that I ask is, let’s not make a horrible situation even worse. Trump will be worse on that issue, let alone every other issue.”
Sanders, who ran against Biden in Democrats’ 2020 presidential primary, said he’s “working day and night” to move the president on Israel. He urged frustrated young voters to help out progressives — like Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) — who’ve faced attacks from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in their competitive primaries.
“Support the many many good progressive candidates who are today under assault from AIPAC and other super PACs out there,” Sanders advised young progressives.
