https://arab.news/849bv
- ‘It has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people’
- UN report earlier this week said there are reasonable grounds to believe genocide taking place
LONDON: Bernie Sanders has become the first US senator to say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
“Over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas,” he wrote on his Senate webpage. “Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.”
A UN report earlier this week said there are reasonable grounds to believe genocide is taking place in Gaza.
Posting on his webpage, in response to the report’s statement that Israel’s activities “meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide convention,” he said: “I agree.”
Sanders, who has led efforts in Congress to curb weapons exports to Israel, has long advocated the country’s right to self-defense in the aftermath of the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and previously said use of the word genocide made him “queasy” in relation to Gaza.
But he cited casualty figures in the enclave — with more than 65,000 people believed to have been killed and at least 164,000 wounded — as well as the rhetoric of Israeli politicians toward Palestinians — including former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s suggestion that they are “human animals,” and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call to “entirely” destroy Gaza — as evidence of genocide.
“We, as Americans, must end our complicity in the slaughter of the Palestinian people,” Sanders wrote. “Having named it a genocide, we must use every ounce of our leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, a massive surge of humanitarian aid facilitated by the UN, and initial steps to provide Palestinians with a state of their own.”
He added: “The very term genocide is a reminder of what can happen if we fail. That word emerged from the Holocaust — the murder of 6 million Jews — one of the darkest chapters in human history.
“Make no mistake. If there is no accountability for (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his fellow war criminals, other demagogues will do the same.”
The same day, Rep. Becca Balint also called the war a genocide, writing in online news outlet The Courier: “Today, I believe the Israeli government is committing a genocide against the Palestinian people. As the granddaughter of a man murdered in the Holocaust, it is not easy for me to say that.”
Fellow congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Marjorie Taylor Greene have all previously said a genocide is taking place, while two Democratic senators, Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley, last week said ethnic cleansing is being committed.