Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hit back at House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Tuesday night for suggesting that the senator and other members boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress they are “on the side of the terrorists”.
“It’s a disgusting lie,” Sanders told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Tuesday in response to Johnson’s comment.
“I think, you know, if you’re part of the MAGA group — right-wing Republicans — big lies are what you do. You just tell lies over and over again and hope people believe them,” Sanders added, referring to the “Big Lie” that former President Trump won the presidency in 2020.
Johnson, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) invited Netanyahu to a letter dated May 31 to address Congress.
A tentative plan for Netanyahu to speak to lawmakers on June 13, while President Biden is scheduled to be in Italy for a summit, was scrapped on Monday because it falls on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
Sanders, who has emerged as one of the most critical US lawmakers of Netanyahu’s leadership and the conduct of his war against Hamas, reiterated his pledge in recent days to boycott the congressional speech.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Johnson called Sanders by name.
“This is the time to choose a side. If Bernie Sanders wants to side with terrorists, so be it. And if other Democrats want to do this, that’s their fault. But I’m telling you: I pray, hope and hope that a majority of members of the House of both parties and the Senate will join us in this historic speech,” Johnson said.
Sanders, responding to an excerpt of the comments, firmly reiterated his condemnation of Hamas – the US-designated foreign terrorist organization that governs Gaza and which sparked the months-long war with Israel when it launched the deadly October 7 attacks.
“As I have said literally from the first day of this terrible war, what Hamas did was atrocious. Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is a war criminal. He should be in jail. And Israel had every right in the world to defend itself against Hamas,” Sanders said.
“But what Johnson is doing is what people on the right always do,” he continued. “In the old days, if you stood up for civil rights or social justice, they called you a communist. If you are prepared to face Netanyahu’s scandalous war against the Palestinian people, I suppose they now claim that you sympathize with terrorism. It’s a lie. And I’m really not happy with what he’s saying.”
The Hill reached out to Johnson’s office for a response.
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