Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., defended student protests on college campuses across the U.S. against the Israel-Hamas war, arguing that President Biden is putting himself in a weak position politically and morally by his support of Israel.
“This may be Biden’s Vietnam,” Sanders said of the mass student protests against President Biden during an interview with CNN on Thursday.
“Lyndon Johnson in many respects was a very, very good president domestically and brought forth some major pieces of legislation,” he continued. “He chose not to run in 1968 because of opposition to his views on Vietnam.”
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Bernie Sanders defended student protests on college campuses across the U.S. against the Israel-Hamas war, arguing that President Biden is putting himself in a weak position politically and morally by his support of Israel. (Getty Images)
“I worry very much that President Biden is putting himself in a position where he has alienated not just young people, but a lot of the Democratic base in terms of his views on Israel and this war,” Sanders said.
Biden has been forced to attempt to placate pro and anti-Israel factions in the Democratic Party as his re-election campaign heats up.
Between Republicans and Democrats, political division over the Israel-Hamas war remains clear and consistent: Republicans still overwhelmingly approve, even if that approval dropped from 71% in November to 64% in March. Democrats, who mostly disapproved of the action even in November, saw support plummet to 18%, with 75% disapproval.
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Sanders criticized Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership in the war against Hamas. (CNN screenshot)
Sanders also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership in the war against Hamas.
“I happen to believe, not everyone agrees with me, that the war policies of the Netanyahu government are a disaster,” he said. They are causing unprecedented harm. They are in violation of international and absolutely in violation of American law by the law.”
The senator argued that Biden should stop supporting Netanyahu and instead realize how politically weak the issue has made him at home.
“So I would hope very much that from certainly a policy point of view, from a moral point of view, that the president stops giving a blank check to Netanyahu,” Sanders said.
“I would hope that they understand that from a political point of view this has not been helpful,” he added. “Quite the contrary.”
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The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.