Yesterday, during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders declared Israel's bombing of Gaza was worse than of U.S. and U.K. forces on Dresden during WWII:
If I use the word Dresden Germany to you, you think about the horrific destruction during World War II of that city. What is going on in Gaza now in three months, is worse than what took place in Dresden over a two year period. This is a catastrophe.
So my view has been from the beginning Israel has a right to respond to this horrific terrorist attack from come up. But you do not have a right to go to war against an entire people, women and children and the United States Congress has got to act because a lot of this destruction is being done with military weapons supplied by the United States of America.
For starters, Sanders is likening Gaza to Dresden because an estimated 25,000 civilians have been killed in both theatres. However, Sanders clearly needs to brush up on his WWII history. The bombing campaign in Dresden claimed the lives of 25,000 in two days, not two years. So strictly speaking from a statistical standpoint, what is happening in Gaza is not worse than what occurred in Dresden. The fact that Sanders was not challenged regarding this claim tells me how poorly educated we are concerning WWII, but American history at large.
However, in choosing to liken Gaza to Dresden, Sanders is engaging in moral equivalence between the Allies and Nazis and now between Israel and Hamas. Sanders claims Israel "is going to war against an entire people". Mind you, the near 25,000 death toll figure is claimed by the Gaza Ministry of Health which is run by Hamas. So, in order for Sanders to make the claim that Israel "is going to war against an entire people" then he must accept the word of Hamas at face value.
Let us assume for the sake of argument that the count is accurate and there have been 25,000 killed in Gaza since October 7th. How many of those killed were Hamas terrorists? It is important to delineate between Hamas terrorists and civilians. In so doing, it is equally important to remember that Hamas has long used its civilian populace as human shields. So long as this practice continues then one cannot just casually claim that Israel is wantonly going to war against an entire people. Nor has Israel taken people from their homes in engaged in hostage taking, rape and murder. Hamas, on the other hand, still has 136 hostages in captivity.
Given how sloppy Sanders' historical analogy is, it is hard for me to take him with any degree of seriousness. But as with defeated, former President Trump, Bernie Sanders doesn't care about the facts. Bernie's agenda is to block U.S. funding of Israel. The first step towards this objective is to have the State Department look into alleged human rights abuses by Israel though it appears he has already made up his mind regarding the outcome.
In the grand scheme of things, it seems Bernie Sanders knows about as much about Israel and Hamas as he does about WWII.
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