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BERNIE SANDERS TO BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: ‘STOP MURDERING INNOCENT
PEOPLE’  
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Martin Pengelly
April 23, 2024
The Guardian
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_ Vermont senator makes remarks after Israeli strike kills seven aid
workers, amid war that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians _

Bernie Sanders told MSNBC: ‘The United States cannot continue to be
complicit in the horror that is taking place now.’, Elizabeth
Frantz/Reuters

 

The Vermont senator and former US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders
has a message for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu:
“Stop murdering innocent people.”

Sanders delivered his blunt message in an interview with MSNBC on
Tuesday, a day after seven aid workers were killed by an Israeli
strike
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in Gaza.

“Stop murdering innocent people,” Sanders said
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“Two-thirds of the people who have been killed, over 32,000 people
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have been killed [in Gaza], are women and children. This is
inexcusable.”

Netanyahu is unlikely to heed advice from the Democratic socialist
senator, a hero to the US left who sits as an independent but caucuses
with Democrats. But Sanders’ words will be heard across a Democratic
party in upheaval over Israel’s war against Hamas and the Biden
administration’s reluctance to rein in Netanyahu.

Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people
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Since then, Israel has pounded Gaza while ignoring calls for
restraint.

“What’s going on in Gaza [[link removed]]
now is one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the modern history
of the world,” Sanders said. “I mean, we’re talking about the
possibility of hundreds of thousands of children and others starving
to death.

“And it’s absolutely true that Hamas, terrorist organisation,
started this war. But it is also true that right now, what Israel is
doing is fighting not just Hamas but going to war against the entire
Palestinian people.

“ … We’re talking about 70% of the housing units in Gaza that
have been destroyed or damaged. We’re talking about 1.8 million
people who have been displaced, thrown out of their homes. We’re
talking about people who today don’t have food, don’t have water,
don’t have medical supplies, don’t have fuel.

“It is horrible. It is inexcusable. And it’s got to end right now.
The United States cannot continue to be complicit in the horror that
is taking place now.”

In February, only two Senate Democrats
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joined Sanders in voting against new aid for Israel. That bill stalled
in the House thanks to Republican resistance to arming Ukraine but the
Biden administration has continued to supply Israel with weapons
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“Israel has the right to go after Hamas who started this war,”
Sanders said. “Israel does not have the right to … create a
situation where they’re stopping humanitarian aid from getting in
[to Gaza]. The result of this is children are starving to death right
now. Do we want to be complicit in that? The answer, in my view, is
most Americans … do not want to be complicit.”
The US recently abstained
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from a United Nations vote for a ceasefire in Gaza, its strongest move
yet to signal disapproval to Netanyahu. But as Israeli attacks
continue, so do protests on the US left, with the potential to affect
election-year events including the Democratic convention in Chicago in
August.

Sanders was asked whether he was worried about the effect protests
might have on Biden’s chances of re-election.

“Yeah, I am,” he said.

“No matter what, it’s going to be a difficult election and I’m
going to do everything that I can, despite my disagreement with the
president over what’s going on in Gaza, to make sure that Donald
Trump is not elected president of the United States. That would be a
horrific disaster for our country.

“But do I think that a lot of young people, people of colour, many
people … the polling is very clear. The Democratic base wants to
stop funding for Netanyahu’s war machine.

“So if your question is, is it going to hurt the president unless he
turns this around? Yeah, it will.”

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* Bernie Sanders; Benjamin Netanyahu; Gaza; Israel;
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