WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released the following statement after President Donald Trump welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House:
“As President Trump and Members of Congress roll out the red carpet for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, let’s remember that Netanyahu has been indicted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court for overseeing the systematic killing and starvation of civilians in Gaza.
“These war crimes continue to this day.
“His extremist government has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians and wounded almost 135,000, sixty percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people.
“The United Nations reports that at least 17,000 children have been killed and more than 25,000 wounded. More than 3,000 children in Gaza have had one or more limbs amputated.
“At this moment, hundreds of thousands of people are starving after Israel prevented any aid from entering Gaza for nearly three months. In the last six weeks, Israel has allowed a trickle of aid to get in, but has tried to replace the established United Nations distribution system with a private foundation backed by security contractors. This has been a catastrophe, with near-daily massacres at the new aid distribution sites. In its first five weeks in operation, 640 people have been killed and at least 4,488 injured while trying to access food through this mechanism.
“A coalition of more than 200 NGOs said last week that: “Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families.” The Red Cross reports that Gaza’s hospitals are overwhelmed by a “relentless surge in critical cases” from these daily massacres, and that medical facilities are running out of body bags.
“The Israeli newspaper Haaretz interviewed Israeli soldiers posted to these distribution points, who say they are ordered to shoot into crowds of civilians who pose no risk. One soldier said: “It’s a killing field. Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day…just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars…I’m not aware of a single instance of return fire. There’s no enemy, no weapons.”
“Meanwhile, Israel continues to prevent any fuel from entering Gaza. That means hospital generators will soon be unable to support lifesaving equipment or keep the lights on. That means ambulances cannot run. And that means water cannot be drawn from wells or distributed.
“Netanyahu’s extremist government is also preventing baby formula from reaching hospitals, meaning mothers who have been starved for months and cannot breastfeed their infants have no alternative but to watch their children slowly starve.
“This is the man Trump and Congress are welcoming this week: a war criminal who will be remembered as one of modern history’s monsters.”
