Sanders slams ‘war criminal’ Netanyahu invite to US Congress, boycotts his speech
US Senator Bernie Sanders has criticized the congressional leaders who had invited the “war criminal” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of the US Congress.
“It is a very sad day for our country that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited – by leaders from both parties – to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress,” said Sanders, who is an Independent lawmaker leaning left.
“Netanyahu is a war criminal. He should not be invited to address a joint meeting of Congress. I certainly will not attend.”
On Friday, congressional leaders from both sides of the aisles -- Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell -- invited the war-mongering Israeli prime minister to deliver a speech at the joint session of the bicameral Congress, which Netanyahu reportedly accepted.
An informed source told The Hill that Netanyahu’s address to the Congress is expected to take place “as soon as the next eight weeks or soon after August recess.”
Sanders stressed that the Israeli regime forces have for months been unlawfully killing tens of thousands of innocent people since they launched the genocidal war on the Palestinians trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip after resistance groups launched a special retaliatory operation on October 7.
“Israel does not have the right to kill more than 34,000 civilians and wound over 80,000 – 5 percent of the population of Gaza. It does not have the right to orphan 19,000 children. It does not have the right to displace 75 percent of the people of Gaza from their homes,” he said.
According to the latest figures announced by Gaza's Health Ministry, so far close to 36,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
He also emphasized that the Israeli regime forces do not have the right to block the flow of international humanitarian aid to Gaza, dismantle the land’s health care system and bomb its schools.
“It most certainly does not have the right to block humanitarian aid – food and medical supplies – from coming to the desperate people of Gaza, creating the conditions for starvation and famine.”
Sanders has previously said he would not attend any speech by Netanyahu in Congress, saying last week that Israel created “the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history.”
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