Bernie Sanders, the only Jewish candidate in the USA presidential election, seems to be actively pursuing the anti-Israel vote, even as every other candidate looks to push his or her pro-Israel credentials.
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However, after a quick fact-check the interviewer corrected Sanders with the figures of about 2,300 Gazans killed during the 2014 fighting, and about 10,000 wounded. Of course, Hamas blamed the death of those civilians exclusively on Israel, but a significant number of them were killed when rockets exploded prematurely in Gaza, as well as because Hamas used civilians as human shields during the war.
“My recollection is about 10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza”, Sanders said during the interview.
The statement also said that Haneya briefed his guests on the newest in the internal dialogue held in Doha between Fatah Party leaders and his movement’s leaders to end the internal Palestinian split and achieve full reconciliation.
Asked about Sanders’ toll, Elkin, using the Israeli military’s term for the Gaza war, said in a radio interview: “Anyone who knows a little about what happened in Operation Protective Edge understands that this was a weird and loony statement”.
Contrary to the fantastical imaginings of some on the radical anti-Israel left and the hysterics on the pro-Israel right, however, this interview did not demonstrate that Sanders is anti-Zionist or anti-Israel. “It would help if candidates’ positions on this issue are not distorted”.
The former ambassador from Israel to the United States accused Vermont Sen.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has estimated that 2,125 Palestinians were killed during the fighting and 936 of those were militants. Seventy-three people were killed on the Israeli side of the conflict.
“This has created enormous resentment and anger from many, including Fatah people”, he added.
“President Abbas said on Israeli television a few days ago that if I invite him, he’ll come”, Netanyahu told visiting Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralekin Jerusalem. “Sanders, as a young man, spent months in Israel and, in fact, has family living there now”, he said. Doesn’t Senator Senators consider this poisoning on young Palestinian minds as much a threat to peace making as Israel settlements or settlement expansion?
Oren said Sanders’s comments about disproportionate Israeli violence were “a classic contribution to delegitimization”, gesturing to wider attempts by activist groups to encourage boycotts of and divestment from the Israeli state. “I believe 100 percent not only in Israel’s right to exist, a right to exist in peace and security without having to face terrorist attacks”.
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The candidate offered his correction in a phone conversation with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the organization reported.
