Israel has gone well past self-defense and is now conducting a genocide in the Gaza Strip, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday in a lengthy statement laying out his agreement with a United Nations panel that found the situation met the legal definition of genocide.
Sanders is the first senator to apply the term to Israel, which has been waging war in the tiny strip of land with the aid of U.S. taxpayer dollars for nearly two years. A few other elected Democrats, such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), have been using the word for months.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said last month that there was “genocide and destruction” unfolding in Gaza, but later backpedaled.
Sanders cited a number of devastating statistics: Over 65,000 people have been killed, with more bodies still lying under rubble. Of those deaths, Eighty-three percent of those deaths were civilians. Hundreds were aid workers and journalists. Seventy percent of all structures have been destroyed. Ninety percent of water and sanitation facilities have been made inoperable.
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