During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) debated Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) after he accused Israel of committing 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza.
00:08Mr. President, I want to say a few words about an issue that people all over the world are
00:21thinking about, are appalled by, but for some strange reason gets very little discussion
00:30here in the nation's capital or in the halls of Congress.
00:35And that is the horrific humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Gaza.
00:44Today marks 68 days and counting since any humanitarian aid was allowed into Gaza.
00:54For more than nine weeks, Israel has blocked all supplies.
01:00No food, no water, no medicine, and no fuel.
01:07Hundreds of truckloads of life-saving supplies are waiting to enter Gaza,
01:15sitting just across the border, but are denied entry by Israeli authorities.
01:22There is no ambiguity here.
01:26Netanyahu's extremist government talks openly about using humanitarian aid as a weapon.
01:36Defense Minister Israel Katz said, quote,
01:41Israel's policy is clear.
01:44No humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers.
01:52End of quote.
01:54Mr. President, starving children to death as a weapon of war is a clear violation of the Geneva
02:05Convention, the Foreign Assistance Act, and basic human decency.
02:13Civilized people do not starve children to death.
02:20What is going on right now in Gaza is a war crime committed openly and in broad daylight,
02:28and continuing every single day.
02:33Mr. President, there are 2.2 million people who live in Gaza.
02:39Today, these people are trapped, the borders are sealed, and Israel has pushed the population into an ever-smaller area.
02:51With Israel having cut off all aid, what we are seeing now is a slow, brutal process of mass starvation and death by the denial of basic necessities.
03:10This is methodical, it is intentional, it is the stated policy of the Netanyahu government.
03:21Without fuel, there is no ability to pump fresh water, leaving people increasingly desperate, unable to find clean water to drink, or to wash with, or to cook properly.
03:37Disease is once again spreading in Gaza.
03:43Most of the bakeries in Gaza have now shut down, having run out of fuel and flour.
03:50The few remaining community kitchens are also shutting down.
03:55Most people are now surviving on scarce canned goods, often a single can of beans or some lentils,
04:04shared between a family once a day.
04:08The United Nations reports that more than 2 million people, out of a population of 2.2 million, face severe food shortages.
04:22The starvation hits children the hardest.
04:26At least 65,000 children now show symptoms of malnutrition, and dozens have already starved to death.
04:37Malnutrition rates increased 80% in March, the last month for which data is available, after Netanyahu began the siege.
04:49But the situation has severely deteriorated since then.
04:56UNICEF reported yesterday that, quote, the situation is getting worse every day, end quote,
05:04and that they are treating about 10,000 children for severe malnutrition.
05:11And severe malnutrition is not something that is cured overnight.
05:18This will have a permanent impact on the health and well-being of those kids for the rest of their lives.
05:26Without adequate nutrition or access to clean water, many children will die of easily preventable diseases,
05:36killed by something as simple as diarrhea.
05:40For the tens of thousands of injured people in Gaza, particularly the countless burn victims from Israeli bombing,
05:49their wounds cannot heal without adequate food and clean water.
05:55Left to fester, infections will kill many who should have survived.
06:01With no infant formula, and with malnourished mothers unable to breastfeed,
06:07many infants are also at severe risk of death.
06:12Those that survive will bear the scars of what they are going through now for the rest of their lives.
06:20And with little medicine available, easily treatable illnesses and chronic diseases,
06:26like diabetes or heart disease, is now a death sentence in Gaza.
06:32Mr. President, what is going on there is not some terrible earthquake,
06:39it is not a hurricane, it is not a storm.
06:44What is going on in Gaza today is a man-made nightmare.
06:51And nothing, in my view, can justify this.
06:56What is happening in Gaza will be a permanent stain on the world's collective conscience.
07:04History will never forget that we allowed this to happen,
07:10and for us here in the United States that we, in fact, enabled this ongoing atrocity.
07:21There is no doubt that Hamas, a terrorist organization,
07:26began this terrible war with its barbaric October 7, 2023 attack on Israel,
07:33which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages.
07:40The International Criminal Court was right to indict Yarra Sinwa and other leaders of Hamas
07:49as war criminals for those atrocities.
07:53Clearly, Israel, as any other country that was so attacked,
07:59had the right to defend itself against Hamas.
08:03But Netanyahu's extremist government has not just waged war against Hamas.
08:10Instead, they have waged an all-out barbaric war of annihilation against the Palestinian people.
08:19They have intentionally made life unlivable in Gaza.
08:24Israel, up to now, has killed more than 52,000 people and injured more than 118,000,
08:3560 percent of whom are women, children, and the elderly.
08:41More than 15,000 children in Gaza have been killed.
08:53has damaged or destroyed two-thirds of all of the structures in Gaza,
09:01including 92 percent of the housing units.
09:05Ninety-two percent of housing in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed.
09:11Most of the population now is living in tents or other makeshift structures.
09:19Mr. President, the health care system in Gaza has been essentially destroyed.
09:26Most of the territory's hospitals and primary health care facilities have been bombed.
09:32Gaza's civilian infrastructure has been totally devastated,
09:38including almost 90 percent of water and sanitation facilities.
09:42Most of the roads have been destroyed.
09:46Gaza's educational system has been obliterated.
09:50Hundreds of schools have been bombed.
09:54Schools have been bombed.
09:57As has every single one of Gaza's 12 universities.
10:03And there has been no electricity in Gaza for 18 months.
10:09No electricity.
10:10Mr. President, given this reality, nobody should have any doubts that Netanyahu is a war criminal.
10:22Just like his counterparts in Hamas, he has a massive amount of innocent blood on his hands.
10:31And now, Netanyahu and his extremist ministers have a new plan on top of everything else that has been done.
10:42They have a new plan.
10:44And that is to indefinitely reoccupy all of Gaza.
10:49The November handset to applaud them,
10:51and be радиos as a Chinese security officer.
10:54For those, there are a few buildings that are still standing that are still standing.
10:56And force the entire population of 2.2 million people into a single tiny area.
11:01Where hired U.S. security contractors will distribute rations to the survivors.
11:09Israeli officials are quite open about this goal, here.
11:14here, to force Palestinians to leave for other countries, quote, in line with President
11:20Trump's vision for Gaza, end quote, as one Israeli official said this week. Israeli Finance
11:28Minister Smotrich said this week that, quote, Gaza will be entirely destroyed, end quote,
11:36and that its population will, quote, leave in great numbers, end quote. For many in Netanyahu's
11:44extremist government, this has been the plan all along. It's called ethnic cleansing. This
11:55would be a terrible tragedy, no matter where in the world it was happening or why it was
12:03happening, whatever the causes of it might be. But what makes this tragedy so much worse
12:12for us in America is that it is our government, the United States government, that is absolutely
12:21complicit in creating and sustaining this humanitarian disaster. It didn't just happen. We are a significant
12:32part of creating this humanitarian disaster. Last year alone, the United States provided
12:3918 billion in military aid to Israel. This year, the Trump administration has approved 12 billion
12:47more in bombs and weapons. And for months, Trump has offered blanket support for Netanyahu.
12:54More than that, he has repeatedly said that the United States will actually take over Gaza after
13:04the war. That the Palestinian people will be driven, forcibly expelled from their homeland. And the United
13:15States will redevelop it into what Trump calls, quote, the Riviera of the Middle East, end quote.
13:23A playground for billionaires. Think about it. 2.2 desperate people who have been bombed and starved and
13:37driven from their homes are now about to be forcibly expelled from their territory into God knows where
13:45America. So that Trump and his friends can build a Riviera for the billionaire class.
13:51Mr. President, this war has killed or injured more than 170,000 people in Gaza. It has cost American taxpayers well over 20 billion dollars in the last year.
14:12And right now, as we speak, thousands of children are starving to death. And the U.S. President is actively encouraging the ethnic cleansing of over 2 million people.
14:25Now given that reality, one might think that there would be a vigorous discussion right here in the Senate. Do we really want to spend billions of taxpayer dollars starving
14:41children in Gaza? A real vigorous debate. I want to hear why that is a good use. We have people sleeping out on the streets of America two blocks from the nation's capital.
14:54You tell me why spending billions of dollars to support Netanyahu's war and starving children is a good idea. I'd love to hear it. But Mr. President, we are not having that to break.
15:10And let me suggest to you why I think we are not having that debate. And that is because we have a corrupt campaign finance system that allows organizations like APAC to set the agenda here in Washington with regard to what happens in the Middle East.
15:31In the last election cycle, APAC's PAC and Super PAC spent nearly $127 million combined on campaign contributions. And the fact is that if you are a member of Congress and you vote against Netanyahu's war in Gaza,
15:57APAC is there to punish you with millions of dollars in advertisements to see that you get defeated.
16:06One might think that in a democracy there would be a vigorous debate on an issue of such consequence.
16:15But because of our corrupt campaign finance system, which impacts us in so many ways, on this issue, people are literally afraid to stand up.
16:24Because if they do, suddenly you're going to have all kinds of ads coming in to your district to defeat you.
16:31And sadly, I must confess that this political corruption works. Many of my colleagues will privately express their horror at Netanyahu's war crimes, but will do or say very little publicly about it.
16:48Mr. President, history will not forgive our complicity in this nightmare. The time is long overdue for us to end our support for Netanyahu's destruction of the Palestinian people.
17:07We must not put another nickel into Netanyahu's war machine. We must demand an immediate ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of the hostages, and the rebuilding of Gaza.
17:28Not for billionaires to enjoy their Riviera there, but rebuilding Gaza for the Palestinian people.
17:39With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
17:42Senator from Ohio.
17:44I've been in the United States Senate now for a total of 125 days.
17:50I've seen some outrageous comments over the last 125 days.
17:57My colleague has been here exactly 12,000 days more than I have.
18:03And let me just set the record straight.
18:06On October 7th of 2023, families, mothers, fathers were sitting at home, enjoying a peaceful existence in one of the most difficult places on earth to live.
18:22They had a day planned of joy at a festival.
18:27And what happened?
18:29People came over and savagely, savagely murdered children, raped women, took hundreds of hostages, killed more Jews than at any time since the Holocaust.
18:45What you just heard for the last 15 minutes could be summarized as the absolute propaganda of Hamas.
18:56Let me just be clear.
18:58This war started by Hamas.
19:02It could end today by Hamas if they released every last hostage, including an American citizen.
19:13We're sitting here in the United States Senate and not even saying a word of the fact that there's a U.S. citizen being held hostage by a terrorist group in the Middle East.
19:28That is outrageous.
19:30That should be at the top of the agenda.
19:33Why have civilians been killed in Gaza?
19:39Because they hide weapons in hospitals, in schools, in homes.
19:46Hamas is the enemy, not our greatest ally, which is Israel.
19:53I was just there two weeks ago.
19:56Two weeks ago I was there.
19:58You know there's almost no Israeli that hasn't seen a mom, a dad, a son, a grandson, granddaughter that hasn't been either injured or killed to protect their country.
20:14The fact that we are disparaging our greatest ally at this level is completely outrageous.
20:25I had plans to go home, see my wife and kids.
20:29But I rose today because I cannot stay silent after listening to that kind of nonsense spewed here in the United States Senate.
20:39It's a disgrace and we should not ever forget that Israel is fighting the war that we would otherwise fight.
20:47And with that I yield the floor.
20:49President.
20:50Senator from Vermont.
20:53Number one, if the gentleman had heard my remarks, I of course talked about the need to release the hostages.
21:00And I talked about who started the war, which is the terrorist organization called Hamas, led by war criminals.
21:08There is no debate about that.
21:10But what the gentleman did not tell us is whether or not he thinks it's a good idea for U.S. taxpayers to be spending billions of billions of dollars on an extremist government in Israel whose stated policy is to starve children.
21:29Whether or not he thinks it's a good idea to cut off all humanitarian aid getting into Gaza right now.
21:38No medicine.
21:40No clean water.
21:42No health care facilities.
21:44Open.
21:45No health care facilities.
21:46So the issue is not who started the war.
21:48Everyone knows who started the war.
21:50The issue is whether you commit war atrocities, criminal war acts, by punishing an entire people for the acts of a terrorist organization.
22:04Did Israel have a right to defend itself?
22:06Yes.
22:07Nobody denies that.
22:08Did it have a right to kill over 50,000 people, 60% of whom are women, children and the elderly?
22:18No.
22:19Did it have a right to injure 112,000 people?
22:24To destroy almost every housing unit in Gaza?
22:29To bomb hundreds of schools and every university in Gaza?
22:35No.
22:36Israel had a right to defend itself, but it does not have the right to engage in ethnic cleansing and to starve children.
