{"id":39370,"date":"2016-04-10T17:05:32","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T15:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=39370"},"modified":"2016-04-06T19:58:06","modified_gmt":"2016-04-06T17:58:06","slug":"10-05-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=39370","title":{"rendered":"Sanders suggests Israel killed \u2018over 10,000 innocents\u2019 in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Massively inflating toll, Sanders suggests Israel killed \u2018over 10,000 innocents\u2019 in Gaza<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Eric Cortellessa<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Massively amplifying even Hamas\u2019s own figures, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders suggested Israel had killed \u201cover 10,000 innocent\u201d Palestinian civilians in Gaza during the war there in the summer of 2014, and said the high casualties were the result of an \u201cindiscriminate\u201d Israeli military offensive. Hamas health authorities in Gaza put the civilian death toll at about a seventh of the figure cited by Sanders; Israel puts it lower still.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview with the New York Daily News editorial board published on Monday, the Vermont senator acknowledged that he did not have the exact figures memorized, but twice said he believed that the Palestinian civilian death count surpassed 10,000, and excoriated Israel for what he deemed its disproportionate use of force.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody help me out here, because I don\u2019t remember the figures, but my recollection is over 10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza. Does that sound right?\u201d he said first.<\/span><\/p>\n

Told that the number was \u201cprobably high,\u201d Sanders responded: \u201cI don\u2019t have it in my number\u2026 but I think it\u2019s over 10,000. My understanding is that a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled,\u201d he went on. \u201cHospitals, I think, were bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone in believing that Israel\u2019s force was more indiscriminate than it should have been.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Contentious casualty count<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019s estimation far exceeds that of official Palestinian sources. (It was clear from the context that Sanders was referring to the 2014 war; however, the Palestinian civilian death toll from all three rounds of Israeli-Hamas conflict in the years since the terror group seized control of the Strip also falls far short of the figure he cited.)<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Palestinian figures cited by the UN Human Rights Council, 1,462 civilians were killed out of a total of the 2,251 Gaza fatalities during the 51-day conflict. Israel, for its part, has said that up to half of those killed on the Palestinian side were combatants, and has blamed the civilian death toll on Hamas for deliberating placing rocket launches, tunnels and other military installations among civilians. Seventy-three people were killed on the Israeli side of the conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past, Sanders has condemned Hamas for launching rockets at civilian areas and building tunnels into Israel proper, including in a testy exchange with some of his constituents in August 2014, where he simultaneously criticized Israel\u2019s military response.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked by the New York Daily News what he would have done in Israel\u2019s place, he said: \u201cYou\u2019re asking me now to make not only decisions for the Israeli government but for the Israeli military, and I don\u2019t quite think I\u2019m qualified to make decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it is fair to say that the level of attacks against civilian areas\u2026 and I do know that the Palestinians, some of them, were using civilian areas to launch missiles. Makes it very difficult,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I think most international observers would say that the attacks against Gaza were indiscriminate and that a lot of innocent people were killed who should not have been killed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Eastern
\nEastern Gaza City, six months after 2014’s Operation Protective Edge (Aaed Tayeh\/Flash90)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

His discomfort with the nature of the Israeli campaign notwithstanding, Sanders said he did not support Palestinian attempts to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court for a war crimes trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

Addressing the conflict<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sanders was also asked how he would address efforts to forge a comprehensive peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians, and how he would address the settlement issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a speech released two weeks ago, which Sanders said he would have given at the annual AIPAC policy conference had he not been elsewhere campaigning, the underdog Democratic candidate called for \u201cpulling back settlements in the West Bank, just as Israel did in Gaza,\u201d referring to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon\u2019s decision to unilaterally remove all settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005.<\/span><\/p>\n

When pressed by the New York newspaper to describe the kind of \u201cpullback\u201d he envisioned, Sanders responded by saying, \u201cWell, that\u2019s the Israeli government\u2019s plan, but I think that right now\u2026 I\u2019m not going to run the Israeli government. I\u2019ve got enough problems trying to be a United States senator or maybe president of the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nA Jewish settler argues with a female soldier during the disengagement from the Gaza Strip on August 17, 2005. (photo credit: Yossi Zamir\/ Flash90)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had some paper in front of me, I would give you a better answer,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I think if the expansion was illegal, moving into territory that was not their territory, I think withdrawal from those territories is appropriate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While he would not detail exactly how he would pursue bringing the two sides back into negotiations, Sanders went on to slam settlements as being an obstacle to reaching the coveted two-state outcome \u201cfor long-term peace in that region, and God knows nobody has been successful in that for 60 years, but there are good people on both sides,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd Israel is not, cannot, just simply expand when it wants to expand with new settlements.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanders, the only Jewish candidate for president, also stressed his support for Israel\u2019s right to live in security and emphasized his time spent on a kibbutz in the country, in 1964, and that he has family currently living there, while indicating the US has an interest in improving the quality of life for Palestinians.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI lived in Israel. I have family in Israel. I believe 100 percent not only in Israel\u2019s right to exist, a right to exist in peace and security without having to face terrorist attacks,\u201d he said. \u201cBut from the United States\u2019 point of view, I think, long-term, we cannot ignore the reality that you have large numbers of Palestinians who are suffering now, poverty rate off the charts, unemployment off the charts, Gaza remaining a destroyed area\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanders also vowed to place demands on the Palestinian political leadership, which he said included \u201cthe absolute condemnation of terrorist attacks\u201d and ensuring foreign donations aren\u2019t used to advance terror. \u201cForeign aid should go to housing and schools,\u201d he said, \u201cnot the development of bombs and missiles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Concern over the use of foreign aid for Palestinians, however, is mostly directed toward Europe, as US foreign aid is already under strict congressional oversight and restrictions based on congressional concern that it could be \u201cdiverted to Palestinian terrorist groups.\u201d All aid is thus relegated to US-administered project assistance and budget support for the Palestinian Authority, along with donations going to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018To the degree that (the Israelis) want us to have a positive relationship, I think they\u2019re going to have to improve their relationship with the Palestinians”<\/span><\/p>\n

On the nature of how he would manage the US-Israel alliance if elected president, Sanders said the strength of Israel\u2019s ties with the US would depend upon how things are progressing with the Palestinians: \u201cTo the degree that they (the Israelis) want us to have a positive relationship,\u201d he said, \u201cI think they\u2019re going to have to improve their relationship with the Palestinians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Sanders<\/strong> is currently trailing behind former secretary of state Hillary Clinton by 701 delegates, with Clinton holding 1,712 to Sanders\u2019s 1,011.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The next primary contest is taking place Tuesday in Wisconsin.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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twoje uwagi, linki, wlasne artykuly, lub wiadomosci przeslij do: webmaster@reunion68.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Massively inflating toll, Sanders suggests Israel killed \u2018over 10,000 innocents\u2019 in Gaza Eric Cortellessa WASHINGTON \u2014 Massively amplifying even Hamas\u2019s own figures, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders suggested Israel had killed \u201cover 10,000 innocent\u201d Palestinian civilians in Gaza during the war there in the summer of 2014, and said the high casualties were the result […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39370"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39402,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39370\/revisions\/39402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}