Campaign: Idea Sanders Told New York Daily News 10,000 Palestinians Were Killed In 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict 'Distorted,' 'Not Accurate'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., is clarifying comments he made to the New York Daily News editorial board about the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.
During the interview, the Democratic presidential hopeful said that "10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza. Does that sound right?"
"I don't have it in my number … but I think it's over 10,000. My understanding is that a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled. Hospitals, I think, were bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don't think I'm alone in believing Israel's force was more indiscriminate than it should have been," the Vermont senator said.
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However, Sanders was off on the number as nearly 2,300 Palestinians were killed and another 10,000 wounded.
The campaign said in a statement Thursday that Sanders' position was "distorted."
"The idea that Sen. Sanders stated definitely that 10,000 Palestinians were killed is just not accurate and a distortion of that discussion," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said. "Bringing peace between Israel and the Palestinians will not be easy. It would help if candidates' positions on this issue are not distorted."
Briggs added that there is "no candidate for president who will be a stronger supporter of Israel's right to exist in freedom, peace and security."
During a campaign rally at Temple University in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Sanders questioned whether Hillary Clinton is "qualified" to be president.
"She has been saying lately that she thinks that I am quote unquote not qualified to be president," Sanders told a crowd of more than 10,000 people at Temple University's Liacouras Center. "I don't believe that she is qualified if she is, through her super PAC, taking tens of millions of dollars in special-interest funds."
Sanders also said Clinton is not qualified because of her vote on the war in Iraq and her support for trade agreements that he says are harmful to American workers.
The former secretary of state laughed off Sanders' comment.
"Well, it's kind of a silly thing to say," she told reporters outside Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, according to CBS News. "But I'm going to trust the voters of New York who know me and have voted for me three times – twice for Senate and once in the presidential primary."
Clinton currently has a sizable delegate lead over Sanders – 1,748 to 1,052.
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