Sanders: No more military aid to Israel — after Arab parties are banned from the elections

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has called on the United States to end military aid to Israel, after the Israeli election commission banned the two main Arab parties just four weeks before the parliamentary elections — a decision that could leave Israel’s Palestinian citizens without their main representatives in parliament, as Al Jazeera reports.

“If it wasn’t clear before, Netanyahu and his far-right allies need an Israel where Palestinian citizens are treated as second-class citizens,” Sanders wrote in a post on the X platform. “NO MORE MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL,” he added in capital letters.

Sanders’ call comes as the seven-month U.S.–Israel–Iran war, launched in late February with American and Israeli strikes on Iran, continues to fuel fierce debate in Washington over U.S. military support for Israel. In recent months, a growing number of Democratic lawmakers have opposed arms packages for Israel, turning military aid into one of the hottest issues in U.S. foreign policy.

The Israeli election commission’s decision to ban the two main Arab parties four weeks before the vote has drawn strong reactions inside Israel as well, where critics see it as a blow to the political representation of the Arab minority. Sanders, one of the best-known voices of the American left, directly linked the decision to his call for cutting military aid.

The senator’s call adds to a wave of opposition in Congress: in recent months Democratic lawmakers have blocked or opposed arms packages for Israel, including the $2.8 billion sale of bombs, while the debate over the future of U.S. military aid is expected to deepen in the coming weeks.