Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Sanders Gets it Mostly Right on Gaza, but Cheerleaders for Israeli
Brutality Attack Him Anyway
________________________________________
Sanders Gets it Mostly Right on Gaza, but Cheerleaders for Israeli Brutality
Attack Him Anyway
By Carlos Latuff [1], Max Blumenthal [2] / AlterNet [3]
April 10, 2016
In an interview [4] with the New York Daily News, a tabloid owned by
ultra-Zionist multi-billionaire Mort Zuckerman, Sen. Bernie Sanders held
forth on Israel's 2014 assault on the Gaza Strip. "My understanding is that
a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled. Hospitals, I think, were
bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don't think I'm alone in believing that
Israel's force was more indiscriminate than it should have been," Sanders
declared. He then overstated the civilian casualty toll, asserting that
"over 10,000 people" were killed by Israel.
Sanders' comments infuriated the pro-Israel lobby, provoking former Israeli
Ambassador to the US Michael Oren to accuse him of a "blood libel,"
referring to the false rumors of Jews kidnapping and cooking gentile babies
spread to justify pogroms and anti-Semitic repression. The Anti-Defamation
League joined the festival of outrage, demanding Sanders apologize [5] for
his comments. When Sanders visited his childhood home in Brooklyn, he was
met with protests [6] by right-wing allies of the Israeli settler movement
including New York State Assemblymember Dov Hikind, an unrepentant former
member [7] of the violent extremist Jewish Defense League.
While Israel lobbyists like Oren were determined to extract a display of
contrition from the Democratic presidential challenger, it's hard to imagine
they would want to acknowledge the real toll of Israel's 51-day-long
assault, from the 551 children killed [8] to the Associated Press's finding
that Israel killed 844 Palestinian civilians [9] in airstrikes on their
homes to the fact that a whopping 100,000 homes [10] were damaged or
destroyed by Israeli violence.
Indeed, Sanders' comments about the leveling of apartment houses [11] and
bombing of hospitals [12] were absolutely accurate. When Israel shelled a
UN-run shelter for displaced civilians in Gaza on August 2, 2014, US State
Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki declared [13], "The United States is
appalled by today's disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA [United Nations
Relief and Works Agency] school in Rafah sheltering some 3,000 displaced
persons, in which at least 10 more Palestinian civilians were tragically
killed."
The pro-Israel lobby played a critical role in the blood-drenched assault on
Gaza in 2014, ensuring full-throated political support from American
lawmakers and military backing from the Obama administration. Its
accusations of blood libel represent the height of moral hypocrisy. Israeli
propagandists like Oren -- who was an active, uniformed participant [14] in
Israel's 2008-09 invasion of Gaza -- point an accusing finger at Sanders
with one hand, and pull the trigger on a besieged, occupied population with
the other.
Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project at AlterNet, and
the award-winning author of Goliath [15] and Republican Gomorrah [16]. His
most recent book is The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza. Follow him
on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal [17].
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [18]
[19]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/sanders-gets-it-mostly-right-gaza-c
heerleaders-israeli-brutality-attack-him-anyway
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/carlos-latuff
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/max-blumenthal
[3] http://alternet.org
[4]
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/scary-bernie-sanders-article-1.2589787
[5]
http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/israel-middle-east/adl-calls-
on-sen-bernie-sanders-to-correct-misstatement.html?referrer=https://t.co/PLY
XQ4DkCk
[6] http://matzav.com/175935-2/
[7]
http://www.thenation.com/article/former-terror-suspect-leading-attack-brookl
yn-college-bds-panel/
[8] http://gaza.ochaopt.org/2015/06/key-figures-on-the-2014-hostilities/
[9] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4626315,00.html
[10]
http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/week-after-cairo-conference-unr
wa-steps-recovery-and-reconstruction-efforts
[11]
http://imeu.org/article/50-days-of-death-destruction-israels-operation-prote
ctive-edge
[12]
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/18/israel_bombs_gazas_only_rehab_hospital
[13]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/03/us-appalled-disgraceful-israeli
-shelling-gaza-un-school
[14]
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/conferences/InternationalBoard2014/dr-michael-b-or
en
[15]
http://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
[16] http://republicangomorrah.com/
[17] http://twitter.com/maxblumenthal
[18] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Sanders Gets it Mostly
Right on Gaza, but Cheerleaders for Israeli Brutality Attack Him Anyway
[19] http://www.alternet.org/
[20] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Sanders Gets it Mostly Right on Gaza, but Cheerleaders for Israeli
Brutality Attack Him Anyway
Sanders Gets it Mostly Right on Gaza, but Cheerleaders for Israeli Brutality
Attack Him Anyway
By Carlos Latuff [1], Max Blumenthal [2] / AlterNet [3]
April 10, 2016
In an interview [4] with the New York Daily News, a tabloid owned by
ultra-Zionist multi-billionaire Mort Zuckerman, Sen. Bernie Sanders held
forth on Israel's 2014 assault on the Gaza Strip. "My understanding is that
a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled. Hospitals, I think, were
bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don't think I'm alone in believing that
Israel's force was more indiscriminate than it should have been," Sanders
declared. He then overstated the civilian casualty toll, asserting that
"over 10,000 people" were killed by Israel.
Sanders' comments infuriated the pro-Israel lobby, provoking former Israeli
Ambassador to the US Michael Oren to accuse him of a "blood libel,"
referring to the false rumors of Jews kidnapping and cooking gentile babies
spread to justify pogroms and anti-Semitic repression. The Anti-Defamation
League joined the festival of outrage, demanding Sanders apologize [5] for
his comments. When Sanders visited his childhood home in Brooklyn, he was
met with protests [6] by right-wing allies of the Israeli settler movement
including New York State Assemblymember Dov Hikind, an unrepentant former
member [7] of the violent extremist Jewish Defense League.
While Israel lobbyists like Oren were determined to extract a display of
contrition from the Democratic presidential challenger, it's hard to imagine
they would want to acknowledge the real toll of Israel's 51-day-long
assault, from the 551 children killed [8] to the Associated Press's finding
that Israel killed 844 Palestinian civilians [9] in airstrikes on their
homes to the fact that a whopping 100,000 homes [10] were damaged or
destroyed by Israeli violence.
Indeed, Sanders' comments about the leveling of apartment houses [11] and
bombing of hospitals [12] were absolutely accurate. When Israel shelled a
UN-run shelter for displaced civilians in Gaza on August 2, 2014, US State
Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki declared [13], "The United States is
appalled by today's disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA [United Nations
Relief and Works Agency] school in Rafah sheltering some 3,000 displaced
persons, in which at least 10 more Palestinian civilians were tragically
killed."
The pro-Israel lobby played a critical role in the blood-drenched assault on
Gaza in 2014, ensuring full-throated political support from American
lawmakers and military backing from the Obama administration. Its
accusations of blood libel represent the height of moral hypocrisy. Israeli
propagandists like Oren -- who was an active, uniformed participant [14] in
Israel's 2008-09 invasion of Gaza -- point an accusing finger at Sanders
with one hand, and pull the trigger on a besieged, occupied population with
the other.
Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project at AlterNet, and
the award-winning author of Goliath [15] and Republican Gomorrah [16]. His
most recent book is The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza. Follow him
on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal [17].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [18]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[19]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/sanders-gets-it-mostly-right-gaza-c
heerleaders-israeli-brutality-attack-him-anyway
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/carlos-latuff
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/max-blumenthal
[3] http://alternet.org
[4]
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/scary-bernie-sanders-article-1.2589787
[5]
http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/israel-middle-east/adl-calls-
on-sen-bernie-sanders-to-correct-misstatement.html?referrer=https://t.co/PLY
XQ4DkCk
[6] http://matzav.com/175935-2/
[7]
http://www.thenation.com/article/former-terror-suspect-leading-attack-brookl
yn-college-bds-panel/
[8] http://gaza.ochaopt.org/2015/06/key-figures-on-the-2014-hostilities/
[9] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4626315,00.html
[10]
http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/week-after-cairo-conference-unr
wa-steps-recovery-and-reconstruction-efforts
[11]
http://imeu.org/article/50-days-of-death-destruction-israels-operation-prote
ctive-edge
[12]
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/18/israel_bombs_gazas_only_rehab_hospital
[13]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/03/us-appalled-disgraceful-israeli
-shelling-gaza-un-school
[14]
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/conferences/InternationalBoard2014/dr-michael-b-or
en
[15]
http://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
[16] http://republicangomorrah.com/
[17] http://twitter.com/maxblumenthal
[18] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Sanders Gets it Mostly
Right on Gaza, but Cheerleaders for Israeli Brutality Attack Him Anyway
[19] http://www.alternet.org/
[20] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
