26 April 2024; MEMO: Senator Bernie Sanders, on Thursday, slammed the Israeli Premier’s remarks that denounced pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled US college campuses, Anadolu Agency reports.
“No, Mr. Netanyahu. It is not anti-Semitic 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 – 70 per cent of whom are women and children,” Sanders said in a statement.
The remarks by Sanders came one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned “anti-Semitic mobs” on college campuses.
After pro-Palestine students from Harvard University began an encampment, joining other universities across the US to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu released a video message, Wednesday, that said: “So what’s happening on America’s college campuses is horrific. Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities.”
Sanders said it is “not anti-Semitic” to point out that Israeli bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than 1 million people homeless, and that the Israeli government has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.
READ: Israel’s Netanyahu says ‘more has to be done’ to stop pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses
He said it is “not anti-Semitic” to realise that Israel has annihilated Gaza’s health care system and also “not anti-Semitic” to condemn the Netanyahu government’s destruction of all of Gaza’s 12 universities and 56 of their schools, leaving 625,000 students with no education.
It is “not anti-Semitic” to agree with virtually every humanitarian organisation in saying that the Israeli government has “unreasonably” blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza, he added.
‘Do not insult the intelligence of American the people’
“Mr. Netanyahu. Anti-Semitism 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 anti-Semitism to deflect attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli Courts are not anti-Semitic to hold you accountable for your actions,” said Sanders.
Protests against Israel’s onslaught against Gaza have spread across the US after more than 100 people were arrested at Columbia University last week in New York, after police tried to clear an encampment.
House Speaker, Mike Johnson, faced boos and loud chants Wednesday from students as he delivered a speech during his visit to the school, where he called on the University President, Minouche Shafik, to resign.
Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on 7 October, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
More than 34,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 77,300 injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85 per cent of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
