Bob Sanders (left) and riding companion.
It was precisely noon when Bob Sanders pulled up to From the Hearth in downtown Redding on his bicycle Saturday. He was right on time. The 70-year-old Jewish American from New Hampshire left the Bay Area last Monday on a planned 4000-mile transcontinental trek designed to drum up support for ending Israel’s war against Gaza which has been raging since Oct. 7, 2023.
That’s when a sneak attack by Hamas, the Sunni Islamist political organization that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, killed more than a 1000 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more. To date, 55,223 Palestinians and 1706 Israelis have been killed in the conflict according to Human Rights Watch. There are 55 hostages still being held by Hamas. Nearly 80 percent of the Palestinian casualties are civilians.
The Ride Against War in Gaza cross country tour is sponsored by New Hampshire Peace Action, a nonprofit organization of progressive Jews co-founded by Sanders. Last year, Sanders completed two bicycle runs on the east coast, one in New England and one to Washington D.C. Readers who wish to donate to RAW Gaza may do so here.
This summer, Sanders is taking his message straight to the heart of Trump country, where he hopes to raise awareness about Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank which is being funded by the United States.
“I feel compelled as a Jew to speak out considering what the Nazis did to us,” Sanders said. “How can I then remain silent when a Jewish nation is systematically destroying and starving an entire population of two million people with my tax dollars?”
A retired journalist, Sanders completed his first transcontinental bicycle trek 50 years ago, after graduating from college. His second cross-country tour is off to a flying start.
Bob Sanders.
“It’s been pretty good,” Sanders said about the reception he’s been given so far. “I haven’t had any hostile receptions. I have had (hostile receptions) in previous trips.”
Some of the hostility came from his coreligionists who are strongly pro-Israel. According to Pew Research Center, 93 percent of American Jews consider the Israel-Hamas war somewhat or very important to them personally, compared to 68 percent of American Muslims, 66 percent of evangelicals, 58 percent of Protestants and 56 percent of Catholics who feel the same way.
According to the same survey, 27 percent of American Jews view Israel unfavorably, compared to 73 percent who view Israel favorably. The tide may be turning, though. Sanders was encouraged earlier this year when 400 rabbis and other Jewish public figures took out a full page ad in the New York Times protesting against President Donald Trump’s proposal to take control of Gaza, remove 2 million Palestinians and turn it into a Riviera on the Mediterranean.
Sanders doesn’t shy away from calling things as he sees them.
“Ethnic cleansing, I think we’ve gotten to that because, I mean, Trump pretty much said it,” Sanders said. “I mean, he almost said, ‘We’re going to clear these people out of there.’”
He’s more hesitant to use the term genocide to describe what’s happening in Gaza.
“I’m a little leery of using genocide, but I’m getting less so, because the situation is getting worse and worse,” he said. “Genocide has a definition and it probably fits the definition, but there’s a definition in the dictionary and in human rights organizations and the UN, and then there’s a definition in most people’s perception. A lot of people, when they think of genocide, they think of the holocaust, especially Jews. And this is bad, it’s horrible, but it’s not on the scale of the Holocaust and it’s not as systematic yet as the holocaust. I would say we’re at the edge of genocide.”
“But one of my goals is to get other Jews to speak up against this, and if the word genocide is getting in their way, I don’t mind avoiding it, or at least tiptoeing around it,” he said.
Sanders is highly critical of the Trump administration’s weaponization of antisemitism to quell criticism of the Israeli-Gaza war. But he’s also fully aware that real antisemitism is on the rise, including the killing of two Embassy of Israel employees in Washington D.C. and a flamethrower attack on Jewish protestors in Boulder, Colorado last month.
Wherever he stops, Sanders circulates a petition stating the following demands:
- An immediate and sustainable ceasefire and release of all hostages.
- The suspension of all unrestricted military aid for Israel.
- Increased unconditional humanitarian aid.
- Freezing settlements on the West Bank.
- Ending the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.
- Stopping all attacks against civilians in Israel, Palestine and neighboring countries.
- The international investigation of war crimes by Israel and Hamas.
- Opposing all discrimination against Jews and Muslims but stop using false charges of antisemitism to quell criticism against Israel.
- Releasing and halting deportation proceedings against all those detained for participation in nonviolent antiwar protests.
By the time Sanders and his cycling companion finished a hearty lunch, the mercury had climbed above 100 degrees, but no one was complaining about the heat. Wearing bright yellow RAW Gaza jerseys and riding fully loaded touring bikes, they were headed to Alturas then to Lakeville, Oregon, and eventually to Boise, Idaho, where Sanders hopes to arrive by June 17.
Readers can follow the Ride Against War in Gaza here.
