Bernie Sanders says US Democrats silent on Gaza genocide because of fear of AIPAC

US veteran politician Bernie Sanders accused pro-Israel lobby groups, particularly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), of forcibly silencing US Democrats - using financial and political tactics - and preventing them from supporting anti-war efforts opposing Israel’s horrific war on Gaza.

Sanders, 83, said in an interview with US talk show host Stephen Colbert on Friday’s episode of The Late Show that his Democratic colleagues were dissuaded from "speaking up" on the Gaza genocide - which has killed at least 53,119 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health - due to threats that pro-Israel groups would fund their challengers.

The Vermont senator also compared AIPAC’s influence to Elon Musk’s sway over Republicans.

"I happen to believe that what is going on in Gaza is horrific, that we are seeing children, right now as we speak, starving to death," Sanders told Colbert.

"But why do you think more Democrats are not speaking up on that issue?"

He continued: "If you speak up on that issue, you’ll have super PACs like AIPAC going after you in the same way Elon Musk goes after Republicans," referencing GOP lawmakers facing pressure from billionaire Musk, for defying the party line - especially on issues like health care.

Musk was US President Donald Trump’s largest donor of his 2024 presidential campaign and played a key role in his administration after he won the election.

Sanders also doubled down on his warnings about oligarchy following Trump’s re-election, arguing that such influence has made the government unresponsive to "the needs of ordinary people," amid intensifying criticism over continued US-Israel ties during the war on Gaza.

"Why are the richest people becoming richer while 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck, and 800,000 people sleep out on the streets?" he said, saying that the reason was that the US had a "corrupt campaign finance system."

Despite initial backlash from pro-Palestine advocates after rejecting support for a ceasefire in Gaza following the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Sanders later became increasingly critical of the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu over the alarming rise in Gaza’s death toll.

He brought forth resolutions to block US arms sales to Israel- resolutions that were ultimately rejected by the US Senate after an AIPAC-led six-figure ad blitz targeting 15 US senators, many of whom had supported Sanders’ measures to block $8.8 billion in bomb sales to Israel.

In April this year, Sanders reiterated his stance during a speech in the Senate on AIPAC and Musk silencing lawmakers, while voicing concerns over the suppression of support for ending the war on Gaza.

"If you're a Democrat, you have to worry about the billionaires who fund AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee," he said, referring to AIPAC's targeting of opponents of Israel's war on Gaza.

"If you vote against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his horrific war in Gaza, AIPAC will punish you with millions of dollars in advertisements to see that you're defeated.”

He added: "History will not forgive us for this."

"The time is long overdue for us to tell the Netanyahu government that we will not provide more weapons of destruction for them."

AIPAC has repeatedly faced criticism for what advocacy groups and progressive lawmakers say is a sustained campaign to silence dissent on US support for Israel- particularly since the onset of the Gaza conflict.

According to critics, the influential pro-Israel lobby has aligned itself with Netanyahu’s hard-right policies and war on Gaza, distancing itself from both American and Israeli public opinion, which increasingly supports an immediate ceasefire.

In a previous report by The New Arab, groups like Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) additionally accused AIPAC of using financial intimidation, aggressive ad campaigns, and targeted political pressure to punish elected officials who question US military aid to Israel or call for a ceasefire.

AIPAC’s influence was also evident in last year’s congressional primary defeats of progressive lawmakers such as Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, both of whom had been vocal critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Their losses came after AIPAC and its affiliated groups spent millions on ads and messaging to unseat them- part of what observers see as a coordinated effort to eliminate pro-Palestine voices from the US Congress.

Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March, ending a two-month truce with Hamas.

Since the renewed bombardment began, at least 2,985 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Gaza.