Bernie Sanders is a Zionist Imperialist

Sanders watched as security arrested Pro-Palestine supporters at his rally.

Let us begin with Sanders’ support for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia—a brutal act of aggression that killed thousands of civilians and shredded the sovereignty of a socialist republic. Rather than denounce the illegal U.S.-led war, Sanders sided with the Pentagon. When anti-war protesters occupied his office in Burlington, he had them arrested.

As political scientist Michael Parenti, who is himself of Yugoslav descent, wrote at the time:

“It is not socialism when you support the destruction of a socialist nation under the pretext of humanitarianism.”Sanders, Parenti argued, had "sided with the imperialists", parroting the same “human rights” justifications that Washington has used to invade dozens of nations.

Sanders’ betrayal did not stop there. Throughout his career, he has supported aid to Israel, a colonial apartheid state waging war on the Palestinian people. In 2016 and again in 2020, he claimed to oppose “Netanyahu’s right-wing government,” yet voted consistently for military funding and refused to call for sanctions or divestment. In 2023, during yet another Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza, Sanders offered only tepid “concern” while approving U.S. arms sales.

Even his so-called “democratic socialism” is nothing more than New Deal liberalism dressed in red. He defends capitalism with qualifiers, seeks reform within empire, and explicitly distances himself from revolutionary movements. When asked in 2019 whether he supported abolishing the CIA—a notorious death squad engine of imperial violence—Sanders laughed.

As Parenti wrote in Blackshirts and Reds:

“The liberal’s condemnation of communism always ends up serving the cause of reaction.”This describes Sanders precisely—a man who attacks “authoritarian socialism” abroad while whitewashing the daily authoritarianism of capitalist rule.

A true socialist stands with the oppressed everywhere, not just when polls or donors permit. Sanders has chosen the path of opportunism, voting with empire, shielding Zionism, and dismissing Marxist-Leninist states as “dictatorships.” He is the left wing of imperialism—a safety valve for the capitalist system, not a threat to it.