Sanders is officially an independent, which creates a political card that insists he isn’t a Democrat or Republican. In reality, he is a controlled opposition for the ruling class of the United States, sheepdogging millions of voters to eventually accept the Democratic Party as the alleged opposition to the Republicans.

His recent tour with so-called “Squad” member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as his recent statements regarding the ongoing genocide in Gaza, makes it perfectly clear what his orientation as a so-called progressive really is: preserving imperialism and its allies.

Since October 7, 2023—and ramping up in the previous weeks since Trump’s reelection—Sanders has been rehabilitating the image of the Israeli occupation by attributing its genocidal war crimes and crimes against humanity solely to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sanders insists that Netanyahu’s “right-wing government” is responsible for the genocide, while stopping short of naming the Israeli occupation itself as the main culprit.

In speeches and online statements, Sanders never condemns the occupation and apartheid—and only mentions Netanyahu. Time and time again, he has refrained from commenting on decades of Israeli war crimes against Palestinians both in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank and only raises Netanyahu as a talking point.