US Senator Bernie Sanders called for a halt to all US military aid to Israel, criticizing what he described as “shameful US complicity” in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which he said is being carried out with US weapons and violates international law.
Sanders said in a statement released Sunday that the United States “has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to an Israeli government that has consistently violated international law and is led by a prime minister accused of war crimes,” referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to visit the United States this week.
He added: “Enough is enough. Congress must listen to the American people. No more American military aid to Israel.”
Sanders noted that the Israeli offensive on Gaza continued despite the ceasefire agreement that went into effect last year, accusing the Israeli army of expanding its control within the sector.
He pointed to an Associated Press report stating that the Israeli army is rapidly building a massive earth barrier separating more than half of the Gaza Strip area it controls from the rest of the territory, based on satellite images.
According to the report, more than 23 kilometers of this barrier have been erected in recent months, extending across Palestinian areas destroyed by the Israeli army, which is more than half of the length of the sector, which is about 40 kilometers.
Sanders said that Israel currently controls an estimated 70% of the Gaza Strip, which is more than what was agreed upon in the ceasefire agreement, adding that it has established dozens of military sites inside the Strip since the agreement was implemented.
He added that Israel had killed at least 1,150 Palestinians in the nine months since the ceasefire was announced, including members of a family of six who were killed last week, arguing that senior officials in Netanyahu’s government were seeking to entrench the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip permanently.
Sanders concluded by saying that American public opinion is beginning to change regarding military support for Israel, noting that increasing numbers of Americans, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, are calling for a halt to all US military aid to Israel and for the use of American influence to end the suffering of the Palestinian people.
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