Edited by: Fern Sidman

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), once hailed as a progressive icon, is now facing fierce backlash from the far-left flank of his political base for what activists are calling his “inadequate” stance on Israel’s war with Hamas. According to a detailed report by The Algemeiner, the 83-year-old lawmaker was heckled and berated at a campaign rally in Bakersfield, California, last week by activists affiliated with the United Liberation Front for Palestine (ULFP) — a radical anti-Israel group known for promoting the delegitimization of the Jewish state.

The protest occurred during Sanders’s speech at one of his “The Fighting Oligarchy” rallies, where he was delivering a populist message targeting corporate power. But the event took a sharp turn when a group of pro-Hamas activists interrupted Sanders, accusing him of failing to fully condemn Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

“Are you going to call it a genocide, when it’s a genocide?” one activist shouted from the crowd, before continuing: “And you defend Israel when Palestinians are being killed every single day and all you do is criticize Netanyahu! Israel does not have a right to exist or fight while Palestinians are dying.”

As The Algemeiner report noted, the demonstrators’ rhetoric quickly escalated, with Sanders being labeled a “liberal Zionist,” “complicit with ICE,” and even being accused of betraying his base by supporting the confirmation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Republican hawk on foreign policy.

One protester went so far as to challenge Sanders’s Jewish identity by falsely claiming that he is a “settler” who occupies “Palestinian land,” perpetuating an internet conspiracy theory that Sanders holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship—an assertion that has no basis in fact and has been debunked repeatedly since his 2015 presidential bid.

Sanders has positioned himself among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza within the U.S. Congress. The Algemeiner report indicated that he has introduced resolutions to block arms transfers to Israel and has condemned what he called the “indiscriminate bombing” of Palestinian civilians. Yet these efforts have failed to satisfy far-left activist groups, who now accuse him of shielding Israel’s broader right to exist and softening his criticism by targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than the Jewish state as a whole.

One activist, quoted by The Algemeiner, demanded that Sanders reveal his supposed ties to Israel and denounce Zionism entirely — a demand consistent with the anti-Zionist ideological test now being imposed by extreme factions of the progressive movement.

The rally in California wasn’t the only recent flashpoint. As The Algemeiner report highlighted, another Sanders event in Idaho was disrupted when authorities removed an activist for unfurling a “Free Palestine” flag. Sanders’s remarks at that event — in which he stated that “Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself from terrorism” but also denounced “all-out war against the Palestinian people” and declared “not one more nickel to Netanyahu” — were met with jeers and condemnation from attendees who felt the remarks were too balanced.

The outrage draws attention to an emerging paradox in left-wing politics: Sanders, long seen as a revolutionary standard-bearer, is now perceived by the radical left as insufficiently extreme on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

While Sanders remains firmly committed to pressuring Israel through legislative means, The Algemeiner report pointed out that his criticism is calibrated — rooted in opposition to the Netanyahu government and specific military actions, not a rejection of Israel’s legitimacy. That distinction is precisely what has driven the wedge between Sanders and activist groups that explicitly deny Israel’s right to exist or support armed “resistance” against the Jewish state.

Despite spearheading failed resolutions to condition military aid and ban specific weapons sales, Sanders has stopped short of the language increasingly common among pro-Hamas demonstrators and anti-Israel student coalitions across U.S. campuses.

“His refusal to call it genocide, to denounce Zionism outright, or to equate Israel with apartheid South Africa makes him complicit,” one protester told The Algemeiner after the Bakersfield event.

As The Algemeiner report observed, Bernie Sanders now finds himself at a crossroads, increasingly outflanked by the very movement he helped galvanize. His long-standing support for a two-state solution and opposition to Netanyahu’s policies have earned him little goodwill from a new generation of left-wing activists who demand total ideological conformity — including refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist and embracing maximalist Hamas demands.

The disruptions at his recent rallies may signal a deeper fracturing on the American left — one where moderate critics of Israel are no longer welcome, and where antisemitic tropes and extremist rhetoric are being mainstreamed under the guise of activism.