Sanders says he will not attend Netanyahu's speech at US Congress

WASHINGTON

US Senator Bernie Sanders reiterated Monday that he will not attend an address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of Congress.

"No, Mr. President, I will not be in attendance for that speech," Sanders told the Senate floor.

Sanders said he believes it is "a very sad day" for the US that Netanyahu has been invited by leaders from both political parties, including Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

No date has been set for Netanyahu's speech, according to local sources citing his office, following reports that it had been scheduled for June 13.

Showing photographs of children fighting hunger in the Gaza Strip taken by Getty, Reuters and Al Jazeera, Sanders blasted Johnson, who accused him of "parroting the talking points of Hamas" for refusing to attend an address by Netanyahu.

"I would say to Speaker Johnson that when you attend your fundraising dinners with your billionaire friends, and you eat your fine steaks and your lobsters and your other wonderful food, please remember these pictures from Gaza," Sanders said.

The senator added that the US should remember that the Netanyahu government has intentionally blocked humanitarian aid including food, water and medical supplies.

"Blocking humanitarian aid and creating the conditions for famine is not only an act of extreme cruelty, using starvation as an act of war, but it is a violation of both American and international law. It is a war crime. That is what it is," Sanders stressed.

According to the UN, he said, since mid-January, at least 30 children have starved to death, adding more than 93,000 children under five have been screened for malnutrition.

"But importantly, that is just what we know. The full reality is likely much, much worse," he said.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,400 Palestinians have since been killed in the enclave, the vast majority being women and children, and over 82,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.