PROMINENT United States Senator Bernie Sanders has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide, renewing his call for ending Washington’s “complicity in the slaughter of the Palestinian people”.
Sanders’s statement on Wednesday came a day after a United Nations Commission of Inquiry released an extensive report that concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The US senator cited the statements of Israeli officials calling for the destruction and erasure of Gaza, as well as the growing death toll and famine in the territory.
“The intent is clear. The conclusion is inescapable: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Sanders said.
The former presidential candidate, who remains a leading figure in the progressive movement, is the first US senator to call the Israeli offensive a genocide. Several members of the House of Representatives have previously done so.
The UN defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
The charge implies not just that Israel is violating the laws of war, but that it is trying to wipe Palestinians out of existence – one of the gravest offences under international law.
On Wednesday, Representative Becca Balint, who like Sanders is Jewish and represents the northeastern state of Vermont, also accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza.
“As I write this, babies and young children are starving while the extremist Israeli government continues to withhold aid and commit acts of violence against civilians,” Balint said in an op-ed.
“The suffering goes beyond the tragic loss of life inherent to war; at this point, the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government’s actions appear to be a systematic, intentional destruction of the Palestinian people.”
In his statement, Sanders, who has been leading repeated efforts to block the transfer of US weapons to Israel called for ending Washington’s military aid to Israel.
“The United States must not continue sending many billions of dollars and weapons to Netanyahu’s genocidal government,” he said.
“Having named it a genocide, we must use every ounce of our leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, a massive surge of humanitarian aid facilitated by the UN, and initial steps to provide Palestinians with a state of their own.”
He also warned that the atrocities unfolding in Gaza go beyond the region.
“The challenge we now face is to prevent the world from descending into barbarism, where horrific crimes against humanity can take place with impunity,” he said.
An independent who caucuses with Democrats, Sanders previously refused to call the Israeli war a genocide, arguing that the accusation is a legal term.
“The important point is not what you call it, it is horror, the answer is what the hell do we do about it?” Sanders told CNN last month.
That evasive answer angered large parts of his base.