Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Saturday blasted the invitation extended by congressional leaders for Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu to address Congress and announced he would be boycotting the speech.
In a statement, Sanders went so far as to brand Netanyahu a “war criminal”.
“It is a very sad day for our country that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited – by leaders from both parties – to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress,” said Sanders.
He acknowledged that Israel has “the right to defend itself against the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of October 7th,” but then added that “it did not, and does not, have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people.”
“Israel does not have the right to kill more than 34,000 civilians and wound over 80,000 – 5% of the population of Gaza. It does not have the right to orphan 19,000 children. It does not have the right to displace 75% of the people of Gaza from their homes. It does not have the right to damage or destroy over 60% of the housing in Gaza. It does not have the right to destroy the civilian infrastructure of Gaza, to obliterate water and sewage systems, and deny electricity to the people of Gaza. It does not have the right to annihilate Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers. It does not have the right to bomb all 12 of Gaza’s universities and 56 of its schools, or deny 625,000 children in Gaza the opportunity for an education,” he charged.
“It most certainly does not have the right to block humanitarian aid – food and medical supplies – from coming in to the desperate people of Gaza, creating the conditions for starvation and famine. It does not have the right to condemn hundreds of thousands of children to death by starvation. This is a clear violation of American and international law,” continued Sanders.
“The International Criminal Court recently announced that it is seeking warrants for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas. The ICC is right. Both of these people are engaged in clear and outrageous violations of international law,” he stated.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. He should not be invited to address a joint meeting of Congress. I certainly will not attend,” concluded Sanders.
Sanders has long been critical of Israel’s government, referring to it as “racist” and has advocated for the US to condition its aid to Israel.
Sanders previously called on Congress to reject the $10.1 billion in unconditional military aid being considered for Israel, saying the funds would be used by the Israeli government “to continue its brutal war against the Palestinian people.”
Despite the fact that Sanders has become steadily more critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, he continues to resist calling for a permanent ceasefire, which he says would open the door to further Hamas attacks.