Berk Kutay Gökmen
21 July 2026•Update: 21 July 2026
US Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday said that Israel “did not have the right to commit genocide,” in Gaza, saying that Tel Aviv “should not get one nickel more from U.S. taxpayers.”
Sepaking at an event in Minnesota, Sanders criticized Israel’s brutal war on the Gaza Strip, saying that the administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “did not have the right to wage an all-out war against the Palestinian people.”
“It did not have the right to kill more than 73,000 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and the elderly. Did not have the right to injure 173,000 people.
“It did not have the right to destroy virtually the entire infrastructure of Gaza, the schools, the healthcare facilities, the water systems, the waste water plants, the electric grid. It did not have the right to damage or destroy 92% of the housing units in Gaza,” Sanders said.
“In other words, Israel did not have the right to commit genocide against the people of Gaza. The Netanyahu extremist government in Israel should not get one nickel more from US taxpayers,” he added.
Despite a ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, the Israeli army has continued its daily attacks in Gaza, killing 1,168 Palestinians and injuring 3,798 others, according to the Health Ministry.
The Israeli war since October 2023 has left the Gaza Strip in ruins amid catastrophic humanitarian conditions for the territory’s population of 2.4 million.
