In a recent turn of events, actor and outspoken podcaster Michael Rapaport has taken aim at socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), insinuating that the senator's Jewish forebears "would be disgusted" by his stance against arming Israel amidst its ongoing conflict with Hamas.
Rapaport's critique was particularly poignant as he referenced the tragic fate of Sanders' Polish relatives during the Holocaust.
The catalyst for Rapaport's criticism was a social media post by Sanders on October 7, 2023, in which he accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" following a Hamas terror attack. This brutal assault resulted in hundreds of Israeli civilians, including children, being taken hostage, with many killed and women sexually assaulted.
Despite a severe military response from Israel, which included a warning for civilians to evacuate Gaza, the Palestinian populace recently displayed the coffin of a nine-month-old Israeli child taken hostage, a chilling testament to their unabashed endorsement of terrorism and unrestricted warfare.
Sanders' post on X/Twitter read, "Netanyahus illegal war has killed 50,000 Palestinians. Now, Trump wants to force out 2 million more to build a billionaires playground in Gaza. That is ethnic cleansing and its a war crime. Next week, I will force votes to block $8.8 billion in new arms sales to Israel."
Rapaport, in response, questioned Sanders' stance on Friday, stating, "While we are under threat on 7 fronts, why would a lifelong politician be calling for a stop to arms to ISRAEL? @SenSanders, your parents and grandparents would be disgusted with you. Youre a self-hating embarrassment." According to Breitbart, Rapaport also took a jab at Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), another Jewish senator, suggesting that both senators needed to cleanse their "rotten souls."
Rapaport's critique of Sanders escalated when he invoked the memory of Sanders' family members who perished in the Holocaust. He wrote, "What kind of sick animal whos [sic] own family was wiped out during the Holocaust, call [sic] for the stop of arms to Israel, while 59 hostages are being held since the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Youre sick @SenSanders. When you think about his own families [sic] destruction its really twisted."
In 2015, Tablet magazine reported that many of Sanders' paternal relatives were victims of the Holocaust. Sanders and his brother Larry were raised in a modest apartment in Brooklyn, aspiring to become middle-class Americans while living under the shadow of the Holocaust. Their father, Eli, had left his family in Slopnice, a rural village in southern Poland, in 1921 to immigrate to the United States. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Slopnice's open fields were used for airdrops before the town's Jewish businesses and goods were seized. Most of Eli's family was sent to concentration camps where they were killed.
Rapaport, also of Jewish descent, has familial roots in Poland. Known for his vehement opposition to Donald Trump during his first term, the Deep Blue Sea star made a dramatic about-face following the horrific violence of October 7, eventually conceding his previous misjudgment of Trump and commending the actions of his second administration. This recent exchange with Sanders underscores Rapaport's evolving political perspective and his commitment to defending Israel's right to self-defense.
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