Chris Van Hollen Accuses Israel of ‘War Crime’; Claims, Without Evidence, Denying Gaza Kids Food

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), who has been a consistently anti-Israel voice since the October 7 terror attack, accused Israel on Monday of committing a “war crime,” claiming, without evidence, that Israel was withholding food from children in Gaza.

Israel facilitates the entry of hundreds of trucks of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip every day, where it is meant to be given out by international aid organizations — but where much of it is reportedly stolen by Hamas, which has refused to surrender.

Van Hollen, citing a lack of food for Palestinian children, said: “Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true: that is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. That makes those who orchestrate it war criminals. So now the question is what will the United States do?”

Van Hollen provided no evidence for his claims. He also complained about Israeli operations in Rafah, without mentioning Monday’s hostage rescue in Rafah.

On Friday, Van Hollen claimed, falsely, that Israel had imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, placing “unnecessary obstacles” in the way of getting aid to Palestinian civilians — though Israel facilitates the entry of hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks daily.

Van Hollen also denied that humanitarian aid is being stolen by Hamas, citing a State Department official. Israel has assessed that 50% to 60% of aid entering Gaza is stolen by Hamas, and video on social media shows gunmen taking control of aid trucks.

In addition, Van Hollen repeated a misquote Monday of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Biblical reference to “Amalek” from Deuteronomy — a misquote used by anti-Israel activists online, and by South Africa’s lawyers at The Hague last month.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.