On April 25 Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) issued the following statement in response to claims by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu:
No, Mr. Netanyahu. It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – seventy percent of whom are women and children.
It is not antisemitic to point out that your bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than one million people homeless – almost half the population.
It is not antisemitic to note that your government has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – electricity, water, and sewage.
It is not antisemitic to realize that your government has annihilated Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers.
It is not antisemitic to condemn your government’s destruction of all of Gaza’s 12 universities and 56 of its schools, with hundreds more damaged, leaving 625,000 students with no education.
It is not antisemitic to agree with virtually every humanitarian organization in saying that your government, in violation of American law, has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza, creating the conditions in which hundreds of thousands of children face malnutrition and famine.
Mr. Netanyahu. Antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But, please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government. Do not use antisemitism to deflect attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli courts. It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions.
Yeah, right on, Bernie – that old trick from Netanyahu.
Don’t mess with Bernie. He’ll call you out every time.
For a long time now I’ve been wondering, how do you distinguish a Hamas terrorist from a non-warrior civilian? After all, it’s not like the Hamas fighters wear uniforms. True, the IDF must have records on some of them, but identifying them from a drone camera seems problematical. Apparently, there is no good way, hence the PM’s strategy to just blow everyone, women and children included, to smithereens. Religious extremism has apparently decided that the afterlife is all that matters and that hell on earth is worth it.
Yep, I’ve wondered the same thing, and thought the same thing. It seems the IDF figures killing everybody is the best way to ensure they get all the Hamas guys. (And I don’t appreciate the US sending Israel the means to do it.) Not to mention rendering Gaza uninhabitable by anyone. I’ve also wondered why, if the IDF knows where all the tunnels are, they don’t go in there to hunt down Hamas. Surface bombing isn’t going to destroy the tunnels.
As to tunnels, I think it’s booby traps. I read there are 400 miles of them! Any volunteers for tunnel work today? Crickets.
If Hamas can get around in those tunnels, so can IDF soldiers. It’s just easier to bomb the surface. Sooner or later IDF will have to go into those tunnels to finish off Hamas, destroy their supplies, and free any remaining prisoners.
Bernie is just about the only one who speaks the truth. Love that man.
He’s never afraid to speak his mind. And who better to define anti-semitism than a preeminent Jewish citizen/legislator.
I agree, Kathy. Whatever else you might make of Bernie, he’s not devious in any way. What you see is what you get.