Sanders denounces unconditional US support to Israel

Independent US Senator Bernie Sanders has condemned unconditional American support to Israel and Washington’s disregard to Palestinian rights.

“We must recognize that Palestinian rights matter. Palestinian lives matter,” Sanders wrote in an article published on Friday by the New York Times.

“Palestinian families in the Jerusalem (al-Quds) neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah have been living under the threat of eviction for many years, navigating a legal system designed to facilitate their forced displacement. And over the past weeks, extremist settlers have intensified their efforts to evict them,” he wrote.

He added that “those evictions are just one part of a broader system of political and economic oppression.”

“For years we have seen a deepening Israeli occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (al-Quds) and a continuing blockade on Gaza that make life increasingly intolerable for Palestinians. In Gaza, which has about two million inhabitants, 70 percent of young people are unemployed and have little hope for the future,” he wrote.

He slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime for marginalizing and demonizing Palestinian citizens and pursuing “settlement policies designed to foreclose the possibility of a two-state solution.”

He said, “Netanyahu has cultivated an increasingly intolerant and authoritarian type of racist nationalism.”

“It is shocking and saddening that racist mobs that attack Palestinians on the streets of Jerusalem (al-Quds) now have representation in its Knesset,” he wrote.

He said Americans should not be “apologists for the right-wing Netanyahu government and its undemocratic and racist behavior.”

“We must change course and adopt an evenhanded approach, one that upholds and strengthens international law regarding the protection of civilians, as well as existing U.S. law holding that the provision of U.S. military aid must not enable human rights abuses,” he wrote.

Israel continued its airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, drawing a barrage of rockets from resistance groups in Gaza.

The death toll from Israel’s raids has risen to 122, including 31 children and seven women. According to Palestinian officials, some 95 percent of the victims are civilians.

The Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories have been simmering with rage in the past weeks over Israel’s scheme to expel dozens of Palestinians from their homes in the volatile Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds as part of a long-running scheme to Judaize Palestinian lands.

The anger against the Tel Aviv regime further intensified earlier this month with Israeli attacks on Palestinian worshipers in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the fasting days of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

The Israeli military has been under fire globally over its crimes against Palestinians, especially those residing in Gaza, which has already been under a crippling Israeli siege.

Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has also condemned US President Joe Biden for siding with Israel’s “oppressive occupation” of Palestine and carrying out recent atrocities against Palestinians.

11 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in West Bank

At least 11 Palestinians are killed in the occupied West Bank, amid fierce clashes with Israeli forces and settlers.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have also condemned Israel’s plans to evict Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Warren called the proposed evictions “abhorrent” and said the Biden administration “should make clear to the Israeli government that these evictions are illegal and must stop immediately.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said “the evictions of families in East Jerusalem would violate international law” and challenged the Biden administration to respond.

“If the Biden Administration puts the rule of law and human rights at the heart of its foreign policy, this is not a moment for tepid statements,” he tweeted.

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