Bernie Sanders has been repeatedly uttering the phrase “Israel has a right to defend itself” on his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, which in the year 2025 can only be interpreted as genocide apologia. 

Israel originally claimed troops opened fire because the convoy approached “suspiciously” in darkness without headlights or flashing lights. It said movement of the vehicles had not been previously co-ordinated or agreed with the army.Mobile phone footage, filmed by one of the paramedics all of whom were killed, showed the vehicles did have lights on as they answered a call to help wounded people. The attack which killed fifteen Red Crescent medics was unprovoked.

Since October 2023, at least 208 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli forces. This is not collateral damage—it is a systematic campaign to eliminate witnesses. By targeting journalists, Israel seeks to control the narrative, to ensure that its actions in Gaza occur in darkness, free from the scrutiny of international law and public opinion.

Israel’s operation in Gaza will be justified as a necessary step to break the deadlock in negotiations while simultaneously fulfilling Netanyahu’s promise to defeat Hamas – even though the timelines for these two goals are not aligned. The hostages could die before Hamas is defeated, if it’s defeated at all. But above all, this is about a series of urgent political goals that the prime minister won’t admit to publicly: restoring Itamar Ben-Gvir and his far-right Otzma Yehudit faction to the government, passing the budget and stabilizing the coalition. Netanyahu’s true objective appears increasingly clear: a gradual slide toward an authoritarian-style regime, whose survival he will try to secure through perpetual war on multiple fronts.