Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Monday to CBS News that Israel did not have a right “to kill 12,000 people in six, seven weeks” in response to the October 7 terror attack.
Sanders said, “Well, this was how I respond. Look, Israel was attacked in an absolutely horrific way by Hamas, 1,300 innocent people were slaughtered. Israel has a right to defend itself, but what Israel does not have a right to do, in my view, is to kill 12,000 people in six, seven weeks, two-thirds of whom are women and children. That they don’t have right to do, that’s a violation of international law.”
He added, “The United States has always provided support for Israel. I think we have to continue to make sure that Israel can defend itself, but we also have a right to say to Israel, I’m sorry, you can’t just do all kinds of bombing which are killing innocent men, women and children. And also, in talking to a very right-wing Netanyahu government, we have got to say, you know what, we need some thoughts and movement forward toward a two-state solution to deal with the crisis in the West Bank, where Palestinians are being thrown off of their land and are being killed. So we need, in my view, to say, if you want money from the United States, you know what, you got to hear what we want as well. We just can’t get a blank check.”
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