Bernie Sanders: What’s Happening in Gaza Is Worse than Dresden, Germany in WWII

Sanders: “Jake, we have got to, as Americans, take a very deep breath. What is going on in Gaza right now is a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe. We’re looking at 23,000 people who have been killed. Almost 60,000 have been wounded. And two-thirds of the people who have been killed are women and children. You’re looking at 70 percent of the housing units in Gaza that have been destroyed. Jake, if I use the word Dresden, Germany, to you, you think about the horrific destruction during World War II of that city. What is going on in Gaza now in three months is worse than what took place in Dresden over a two-year period. This is a catastrophe. And now, according to the United Nations, after you have 1.9 million people displaced from their homes — they don’t have food, they don’t have water, they don’t have medical equipment, they don’t have fuel — what you are looking at is imminent starvation. Children are starving to death. So, my view has been from the beginning, Israel has a right to respond to this horrific terrorist attack from Hamas, but you do not have a right to go to war against an entire people, women and children. And the United States Congress has got to act because a lot of this destruction is being done with military weapons supplied by the United States of America. And what the resolution that I’m introducing is about, it’s consistent with the Foreign Assistance Act. It says that, if American military assistance is given to any country, Saudi Arabia, Israel, any other country, it has got to be used consistent with human rights, international human rights standards, and American law. In my opinion, that is certainly not the case. We have a horrific humanitarian catastrophe. We cannot turn our backs on it. Congress has got to start moving to protect children in Palestine.”