Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in an interview Tuesday morning described the death toll in Gaza as a genocide that “makes any genocide pale by comparison.”
In response to an email on the comment, the Green Party said she misspoke: “ Dr. Stein would like to clarify that she meant to say the genocide in Gaza “makes any other issue pale in comparison.”
Stein, who won 1% of the vote in the 2016 presidential race, angered many who accused her of siphoning votes away from Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump win.
Speaking on the C-SPAN program Washington Journal , Stein also referred to Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas’ political leader who was assassinated by Israel last month, as a “very moderate negotiator.”
Stein, 74, invoked her own Jewish identity when a caller to the show noted that she had used the word “genocide” many times about Gaza, but had not mentioned the hostages held by Hamas.
“I am of Jewish background myself,” she told the caller, who had identified herself as an independent New Jersey Jewish voter. “I grew up right after the Holocaust, very mindful that genocide should never happen again, not to anyone, and that responsibility for genocide is not just the perpetrator, it’s also the bystander.”
The next caller, a non-Jewish Ohio Democrat who said she doesn’t understand why Hamas doesn’t surrender, asked Stein whether she believes Israel has a right to exist.
“Yes, all countries have a right to exist, but they don’t have a right to murder and massacre women and children,” Stein replied. “That’s the problem.”
She said the hostages “must be returned,” but blamed Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu for their continued captivity.
Israel describes its military campaign in Gaza as necessary to root out terrorists bent on killing Jews and destroying the Jewish state.
As opposed to the Democratic and Republican platforms, the Green Party platform does not support Israel as a Jewish state, but as a secular democracy. It also supports the right of return for Palestinians who were forcibly removed or fled during Israel’s war for independence, a policy Israel says would quickly make Jews a minority. The party also supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as well as Palestinian non-violent resistance to Israel.
It adds: “ However, we also recognize that our appeal to Palestinians to continue to resist nonviolently in the face of ongoing existential threats from Israel is hypocritical unless accompanied by substantial acts of international support.”
Stein rejected several callers’ charges that she helped elect Trump in 2016 and could do the same this year. She said votes for her in past elections were not from potential Democratic voters, but from those who would have not have voted at all.
“Candidates have to earn your vote, they don’t own your vote,” she said. “ If I wasn’t on the ballot, the outcome would not have been any different.”
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