Sen. Bernie Sanders has sat on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum council for 18 years but, according to several council members and a formal letter, has not participated in meetings and now faces calls for removal amid controversy over his public statements on Israel.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont long invoked his Jewish background in public debates, and his profile has been used to reassure Jewish voters uneasy about left-wing figures. Still, board members say Sanders never showed up for council meetings during an 18-year tenure on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. That absence, combined with his public rhetoric about Israel, has prompted a bipartisan push to replace him.
The revelation sparked direct criticism from colleagues who serve on the museum’s council. “There are two large meetings every year where people fly in from all over the country for it. But Bernie Sanders couldn’t be bothered to walk across the road in DC,” fellow board member Robert Garson, president of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, said. “Eighteen is a good number in Judaism, but not in this case,” another board member and Wall Street executive, Jonathan Burkan, said.
The council itself is structured to keep the museum tied to both the executive branch and Congress, with 55 members appointed by the president to five-year terms and an additional 10 positions reserved for congressional leaders, five from the House and five from the Senate. Garson and Burkan — both appointees from the prior administration — are among roughly a dozen signers of a letter asking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to initiate Sanders’ removal. Their complaint cites long-standing nonattendance as well as Sanders’ repeated public claims about Israel and Gaza.
Signers emphasize the museum’s mission in the context of rising global antisemitism and historical distortion. “In the current context, with Jew hatred and Holocaust distortion rising globally, it is imperative that Senate-appointed representatives on the Council are fully engaged and steadfastly supportive of its mission,” the letter reads. The signers also singled out public statements they say undermine the council’s educational and commemorative role.
Those concerns were spelled out at length in the formal request to Schumer, which raises the legal and practical case for seeking a replacement. In light of these concerns, and consistent with the statutory framework under which the Council operates, I respectfully request that you consider initiating the process for removal and/or replacement of Senator Sanders as one of the Senate’s appointees to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. This request reflects not personal animus but a principled concern about the ability of the Council to execute its mission when a Senate representative is not regularly participating or is publicly positioned in ways that many of his colleagues believe detract from the Museum’s core educational and commemorative purposes.
“I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter with you directly or through your staff, and to provide any further information that might assist in consideration of this request,” the letter added. That formal phrasing underlines the signers’ attempt to make removal about institutional fitness rather than raw politics. Still, the situation has clear political overtones because Sanders is a high-profile Democrat with a base on the left.
Not all voices calling for action come from the right. “This is not a partisan issue, just common sense,” Alex Heckler, a Democratic Party activist and fundraiser appointed to the board by former President Joe Biden, said. “[Sanders’] beliefs and public statements do not reflect the stated mission of the museum. Also, he has never attended a meeting in the years I have been on the Council.” That bipartisan emphasis is a key part of the signers’ message.
The controversy overlaps with other local and national fights. Sanders has publicly defended New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist whose early tenure in office has been clouded by comments about Israel that critics described as inflammatory. Mamdani has repeatedly characterized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip as genocide, a charge Sen. Sanders has echoed in public remarks.
Those overlapping alignments have fueled questions from conservatives and some Democrats about whether Sanders can be trusted as a staunch defender of Jewish memory and security. Opponents say an appointed Senate representative who does not participate in council work and who allies publicly with figures accusing Israel of genocide undermines the museum’s standing during a period of increased Holocaust distortion. The dispute now turns on whether Schumer and other Senate leaders will act on the petition from council members and begin the removal process.
