ADL, Israeli officials decry Bernie Sanders' misstatement on Gaza war

WASHINGTON, April 7 (UPI) -- The Anti-Defamation League and a former Israeli ambassador to the United States have called on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders to correct comments he made about Israel, when he grossly overestimated the Palestinian death toll in the 2014 Gaza war.

Sanders, speaking to the editorial board of the New York Daily News, fumbled his answer when asked about U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

"My recollection is about 10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza," Sanders said during the interview.

The number of fatalities the Palestinians reported themselves was just over 2,000. The number who were Hamas fighters and the number who were civilians remains subject to debate.

"Even the highest number of casualties claimed by Palestinian sources that include Hamas members engaged in attacking Israel is five times less than the number cited by Bernie Sanders," said Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt. "As Mr. Sanders publicly discusses his approach to key U.S. foreign policy priorities, including Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, accuracy and accountability are essential for the voting public, but also for U.S. credibility in the international community. We urge Sen. Sanders to correct his misstatements."

Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013, who is now a member of the Israeli Knesset, called Sanders' remarks "blood libel" and demanded Sanders apologize for the mistake.

"He accused us of a blood libel. He accused us of bombing hospitals. He accused us of killing 10,000 Palestinian civilians. Don't you think that merits an apology?" Oren said. "He doesn't mention the many thousands of Hamas rockets fired at us. 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. He doesn't mention any of that. That, to me, is libelous."