WASHINGTON, June 4 — United States Senator Bernie Sanders reiterated yesterday he will not attend an address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of Congress.
“No, Mr President, I will not be in attendance for that speech,” Sanders told the Senate floor, Anadolu Agency reported.
Sanders said it was “a very sad day” for the United States that Netanyahu has been invited by leaders from both political parties, including Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
According to local sources citing his office, no date has been set for Netanyahu’s speech, following reports it had been scheduled for June 13.
Showing photographs of children fighting hunger in the Gaza Strip taken by Getty, Reuters and Al Jazeera, Sanders blasted Johnson, who accused him of “parroting the talking points of Hamas” for refusing to attend an address by Netanyahu.
“I would say to Speaker Johnson that when you attend your fundraising dinners with your billionaire friends, and you eat your fine steaks and your lobsters and your other wonderful food, please remember these pictures from Gaza,” Sanders said.
The senator said the US should remember the Netanyahu government has intentionally blocked humanitarian aid, including food, water and medical supplies.
“Blocking humanitarian aid and creating the conditions for famine is not only an act of extreme cruelty, using starvation as an act of war, but it is a violation of both American and international law. It is a war crime, that is what it is,” Sanders said.
According to the United Nations, he said, since mid-January, at least 30 children have starved to death, and more than 93,000 children under five have been screened for malnutrition.
“But importantly, that is just what we know. The full reality is likely much, much worse,” he said.
Despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has continued with its brutal offensive on Gaza.
More than 36,400 Palestinians have since been killed in the enclave and over 82,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling, ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
— Bernama
