Sen. Bernie Sanders says critics of President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war need to focus their frustrations instead on Donald Trump and Republicans.

The remarks from the Vermont independent, a self-described democratic socialist who caucuses with Democrats, underscored the tensions within the party over the foreign conflict as Mr. Sanders and others call for a humanitarian pause amid thousands of civilian causalities in Gaza.

Mr. Sanders was asked to respond on CNN’s “State of the Union” to the accusation from Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, that Mr. Biden is supporting “the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

“What’s going on right now is a horror show. We don’t have to quibble about words,” said Mr. Sanders, who is Jewish. “You can disagree with Joe Biden. But on his worst day, he’ll be 100 times better than with Trump in the White House.”

Ms. Tlaib avoided being censured by the GOP-controlled House last week for her involvement in a pro-Palestinian protest in a House office building and making anti-Semitic tropes after Republicans and Democrats voted to kill the measure.

Ms. Tlaib has also used the anti-Semitic phrase of freeing Palestinians “from the river to the sea,” which means Israel should be wiped out.

Mr. Sanders said that while “words matter, what matters more is you have a horrible humanitarian disaster that has to be dealt with right now.”

“Slogans like ‘from the river to the sea,’ if that means the destruction of Israel, that’s not going to work,” Mr. Sanders said. “People who say ‘Israel, right or wrong, we’re for you all the way,’ that’s not gonna work. This is a horrendously complex issue. You’ve got a right-wing government in Israel, which is racist.”

• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.