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DEMOCRATIC MEGADONOR HAIM SABAN ATTACKS SENATORS FOR URGING HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA STRIP
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Twelve Democrats and Sanders signed the May 11, 2018, letter calling for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “act urgently in order to help relieve the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.” The letter, which came amid a deadly Israeli response to a protest movement in the Gaza Strip, said that the Trump administration should restore funding to a United Nations humanitarian effort and encourage Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians living in Gaza. Three days after the senators sent the letter, Israel fired on another round of protestors, leaving dozens dead and hundreds more wounded.
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“Senators, for you to listen to Senator Sanders and accuse Israel of being the main culprit is outrageous, misinformed, offensive and shows a lack of understanding of the region’s basic fundamentals,” Saban wrote. “Do your homework, unless you have chosen to blindly follow Senator Sander’s [sic] ill advised, misinformed, simplistic, and ignorant lead.”
Saban’s email mostly addresses the Gaza protests and Israel’s deadly response. He organized his missive as a fact check, using bold, underlined text in all capital letters to enumerate various pro-Israel talking points about the Gaza crisis. But his “cold, hard facts” frequently had nothing to do with anything in the letter or remarks made by any of the senators on the crisis.
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The Sanders-led letter — whose signatories included Sens. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio — noted that, in 2012, U.N. experts warned that the Gaza Strip would be “unlivable” by 2020. More than 50 years of Israeli occupation and 10 years of a blockade have left the strip in a state of severe humanitarian crisis. The travel and import restrictions imposed by Israel led humanitarian groups to call Gaza the “world’s largest open-air prison.” Gaza residents receive as little as four hours of electricity per day and the vast majority of groundwater is contaminated at dangerous levels.
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https://theintercept.com/2018/06/20/haim-saban-bernie-sanders-israel-gaza-letter/
