An in interview with the New York Daily News published Monday, one US presidential candidate made a gaffe about Israel's 2014 bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
"My recollection is 10,000 innocents were killed in the war in Gaza [in the summer of 2014]," candidate Bernie Sanders told the News. In reality, the death toll was closer to 2,200, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Center For Human Rights.
Twitter users freaked out at Sanders's mistake.
Done/down with#bernie Sanders after his embarrassing comments and complete misrepresentation of the facts about Gaza. Shameful!
— Diana pankowski (@curlygurlydiana) April 7, 2016
#BernieSanders fudges #'s worse than #Hamas does, claims #Israel killed 10,000 "Innocent People" in #Gaza #Palestine https://t.co/9xOG2A4UlR
— Rachel Steinmetz (@RachelSteinmetz) April 7, 2016
That time Bernie Sanders said Israel killed 10,000 civilians in Gaza, about 10 times the actual figure. https://t.co/aoyzyIp48s
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) April 6, 2016
Soon enough, a petition popped up asking Sanders to correct his mistake:
Bernie Sanders: Tell Bernie Sanders to Retract His Statement That "10,000" died in Gaza - Sign the Pe... https://t.co/whbBjMF8DJ via @Change
— Leor Sinai (@tikunisrael) April 7, 2016
The US-based NGO Anti-Defamation League quickly seized on the comment to promote their own agenda:
We believe he knows facts matter. So @BernieSanders, please clarify Gaza comments. FYI-->https://t.co/IjjuUuSuom https://t.co/fpRgJMzhEG
— ADL (@ADL_National) April 6, 2016
And soon after that, the Anti-Defamation League started getting some flack of its own:
The ADL is more furious over a misstatement about the Gaza slaughter than they were about the slaughter itself. https://t.co/EIbqZ0Odx0
— عمر فلسطين (@WeTeachLifeSir_) April 7, 2016
The ADL is critical that Bernie said 10,000 Palestinians were killed. But isn't critical at Gaza being starved https://t.co/b5jWXP0PEh
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 6, 2016
Finally, someone pointed out that it's perhaps understandable Sanders would make such a mistake: after all, the number of killed and injured combined during the war stands at about 11,000.
.@ADL_National @BernieSanders sanders is right. over 10,000 innocent people were killed OR INJURED in Gaza.
— Refaatesque (@ThisIsGaZa) April 6, 2016
--HS
