Senator Bernie Sanders (Independiente by Vermont) said for the first time that Israel is committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
Sanders, one of the most open critics of the Israeli government in Congress, affirmed at the beginning that Israel had the right to defend himself after Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, in which about 1 200 Israeli died and 250 were taken as hostages.
“But in the last two years, Israel has not limited himself to defending Hamas. Instead, he has fought an open war against the entire Palestinian people. Many legal experts have concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Sanders wrote in an opinion article entitled “It is genocide.”
He mentioned several legal experts and human rights groups that have affirmed that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
An independent panel of experts, commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council, declared on Tuesday in a report that there are reasonable reasons to conclude that Israel has carried out a genocide in Gaza.
The UN accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza while the army advances with its land offensive
The Israeli authorities criticized him harshly, describing his findings as “false”, accusing their authors of acting as “representatives” of Hamas, and maintaining “openly anti -Semitic positions.”
On Tuesday, the Israeli army formally launched its terrestrial operation in the city of Gaza in the hope of taking control of the area that, he maintains, is one of the last bastions of Hamas. The operation has received the rejection of the international community.
Sanders, who is Jewish, said that the “legal issue” of whether Israel’s actions constitute genocide “depends on the intention.”
“Israeli leaders have made their intention clear. At the beginning of the conflict, the Minister of Defense declared: ‘We are fighting against human animals and we are acting accordingly.’ The Minister of Finance promised that ‘Gaza will be completely destroyed’. Another minister declared: ‘All Gaza will be Jewish […] We are eradicating this evil. ‘ The Israeli president, Herzog, said: ‘It is a nation responsible, ”wrote the Vermont senator.
“The intention is clear. The conclusion is inescapable: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Sanders said.
It is the first time Sanders publicly and explicitly accuse Israel of Genocide since the conflict began.
More than 1500 filmmakers announce Boicot to Israeli cultural institutions for genocide in Gaza
The senator has received criticism for not describing the behavior of the Israeli army in the enclave as genocide.
“I recognize that many people may disagree with this conclusion. The truth is that it is called genocide, ethnic cleaning, massive atrocities or war crimes, the way to follow is clear. We, as Americans, must end our complicity in the massacre of the Palestinian people,” he wrote.
The representative Becca Balint, of Vermont, also Jewish, published her own opinion article by qualifying the Israel War in Gaza de Genocide. “As a granddaughter of a man killed in the Holocaust, I don’t find it easy to say,” Balint wrote in Couera medium focused on democracy. “But the trauma of the Holocaust reminds us of the power to raise our voice.”
