Senator Bernie Sanders slams Netanyahu, US government

ISTANBUL (AA) – US Senator Bernie Sanders has slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s relentless attacks on Gaza and the US Congress for supporting them, warning against the US sending “the Israeli war machine” $10 billion more for bombings that cause innocent deaths.

On YouTube, Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, criticized both the Netanyahu administration and the US for continuing to send it money even four months into an offensive that has killed tens of thousands of people and reduced most of the Gaza Strip to rubble.

Citing Netanyahu’s words about “victory” in Gaza meaning “smashing glass” into smaller and smaller pieces, Sanders said: “The question we must ask ourselves over and over again is how many more children and innocent people will be smashed in the process? And why is the United States helping to fund this humanitarian disaster?”

Sanders underlined the need to end the massacre in Gaza immediately, saying the war “does have to stop. Then why in God’s name are we now contemplating legislation that provides $10 billion more to the Israeli war machine to continue funding Netanyahu’s war? ”

Stressing that more aid to Israel would only mean deaths of more women and children, Sanders said, “It is beyond comprehension to me that Congress would reward Netanyahu even while he ignores everything the president of the United States says,” referring to President Joe Biden’s criticism of the Israel’s conduct of the war.

Sanders emphasized that Netanyahu is “a man who has dedicated his political career to killing the prospects of a two-state solution. And yet this bill will give him a blank check paid for by the American taxpayer.”

“The whole world is watching Netanyahu as he starves hundreds of thousands of children. We cannot be complicit in this atrocity. As long as this bill contains money to fund Netanyahu’s war machine and this cruel war, it must be defeated,” he added.

Since Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Israel has killed more than 28,000 people in Gaza and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.