Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman of California slammed groups doing what he called "international jurisprudence" by counting the large death toll in the Gaza strip to say Israel "must be wrong." The comments are an apparent dig at human rights group who have criticized Israel in recent days over the rising death toll in the Gaza Strip.
Sherman was speaking at a pro-Israel rally in Farragut Square in Washington, D.C., Thursday where he made the comments.
"Now there are those who engage in international jurisprudence by counting body bags," Sherman said. "They say, 'Well, Israel must be wrong because Hamas and the Palestinians have suffered more casualties.'"
Sherman made the argument that line of reasoning would have made the United States war criminals during World War II because the United States suffered fewer casualties than the German army.
"By that reckoning, you look at World War II and you decide that Eisenhower must have been a war criminal because there were so many more German casualties than American casualties in that war. That is preposterous. Every single rocket fired into Israel is a war crime."
Sherman's comments come as an apparent dig at human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which has slammed Israel for the high civilian death toll in Gaza.
Gaza health officials said Monday that 512 Palestinians had died, along with 3,150 wounded. Twenty Israelis have died, including 13 soldiers killed Sunday.