Short answer: No. As of August 2026, Bernie Sanders, the independent US senator from Vermont, is one of the Senate's sharpest and most persistent critics of Israel's conduct in Gaza. He does not deny Israel's existence or its right to defend itself, and he has Jewish heritage and once lived on an Israeli kibbutz, but on policy he has led repeated Senate efforts to block US arms sales to Israel, has called Israel's Gaza campaign "genocide," and has urged fellow Democrats to reject AIPAC money. He is alive and remains active in the Senate.
What Bernie Sanders has actually said and done
1963: In his early twenties, Sanders lived and volunteered for several months at Kibbutz Shaar Ha'amakim near Haifa, a communal farm affiliated with the leftist Zionist Hashomer Hatzair movement. He has cited the experience as an influence on his politics, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the Times of Israel.
July 13, 2025: Sanders posted publicly that "No Democrat should accept money from AIPAC," calling the pro-Israel lobbying group's spending part of what he termed an "illegal and immoral war" policy and saying AIPAC "helped deliver the presidency to Donald Trump," per the Jerusalem Post.
September 17, 2025: Sanders became the first sitting US senator to say publicly that "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza," in a formal Senate statement titled "It Is Genocide," according to the Office of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Al Jazeera.
April 15, 2026: Sanders forced Senate votes on resolutions to block roughly $447 million in arms sales to Israel ($295 million in bulldozers and $151.8 million in 1,000-pound bombs). The measures failed, but a record 40 of 47 Senate Democrats backed blocking the bulldozer sale and 36 backed blocking the bombs, a sharp rise from the handful of votes his earlier efforts drew, according to the Office of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Roll Call.
May 2026: Sanders and Rep. Summer Lee introduced the Abolish Super PACs Act, explicitly citing AIPAC-aligned super PAC spending in Democratic primaries as a target of the bill, which would cap super PAC contributions at $5,000, according to the Office of Rep. Summer Lee.
July 21, 2026: Speaking at an event in Minnesota, Sanders said Israel "did not have the right to commit genocide" in Gaza and that the Netanyahu government "should not get one nickel more from US taxpayers," according to Middle East Monitor and Press TV.
The kibbutz, the family history, and the current politics
Sanders was born in Brooklyn in 1941 to Polish Jewish immigrant parents and has said he is "very proud to be Jewish." As a young man he spent several months in 1963 volunteering on an Israeli kibbutz. That personal connection has not translated into support for current Israeli government policy. Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, Sanders initially affirmed Israel's right to defend itself but quickly became one of the most vocal Senate critics of the conduct of the Gaza campaign, repeatedly calling it immoral and, since September 2025, explicitly calling it genocide. He has led multiple Senate resolutions to block specific US arms sales to Israel (unsuccessful, but with steadily growing Democratic support), has publicly urged Democrats to stop taking AIPAC money, and has pushed legislation aimed at curbing AIPAC-aligned super PAC spending. He draws a sharp distinction between the Israeli people or the concept of the state and the current Netanyahu government, which he singles out by name as the target of his criticism. Some pro-Israel commentators and Jewish Democratic colleagues have pushed back, arguing his rhetoric goes beyond policy criticism; Sanders has rejected those characterizations and says he opposes antisemitism as a "vile and disgusting ideology."
The bottom line
Bernie Sanders does not support the current Israeli government's conduct of the war in Gaza and has become one of its most prominent Senate critics, including using the word "genocide" and working to cut US arms sales and AIPAC's political influence. He is not anti-Israel in the sense of denying its existence, and he has personal Jewish and kibbutz ties to the country, but on the current policy record he is squarely a critic, not a supporter, of Israel's actions.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
