An outspoken Israeli diplomat-turned-politician is demanding an apology from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders for his "blood libel" about the Palestinian death toll during the 2014 Gaza war,
The Times of Israel reports.
In an interview Thursday, Knesset lawmaker Michael Oren said Sanders' remark that more than 10,000 innocent Palestinians were killed in the latest conflict with Israel only furthers the cause of Hamas terrorists.
"First of all, he should get his facts right," Oren said of the inflated estimate Sanders' provided during a sit-down with the
New York Daily News.
"Secondly, he owes Israel an apology. He accused us of a blood libel. He accused of bombing hospitals. He accused us of killing 10,000 Palestinian civilians."
"He doesn't mention the many thousands of Hamas rockets fired at us," Oren added. "He doesn't mention the fact that Hamas hides behind civilians. He doesn't mention the fact that we pulled out of Gaza in order to give the Palestinians a chance to experiment with statehood, and they turned it into an experiment with terror . . . That, to me, is libelous."
In his interview with the Daily News, Sanders conceded he wasn't sure of the actual figure, but repeated the figure twice anyway.
"Not only did he multiply by five the amount of casualties [in the 2014 Gaza war] and failed to distinguish between the Hamas fighters we eliminated and the civilians we inadvertently and regrettably killed," Oren countered. "He said we bombed hospitals. Hamas is hiding beneath the hospital, we didn't bomb it."
Israel's officials say they had given warnings before striking parts of Gaza's al-Wafa hospital, the Times reports.
"When [Donald] Trump said what he said about Muslims, I came out and condemned it," Oren said, referring to the GOP front-runner's call to temporarily
ban Muslims from entering the United States.
"When Trump comes out and makes prejudicial remarks about 20 percent of my country, then I am going to say something. When Sanders comes out and libels my country, I am going to come out and say something."
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