'Time to worry about Gaza, not American college campuses': US Senator

US Senator Bernie Sanders has said that attention should be focused on Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza rather than pro-Palestinian protests across US college campuses.

"It is time to not simply worry about the violence we are seeing on American college campuses but to focus on the unprecedented violence we are seeing in Gaza, which has killed 34,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000, 70 percent of whom are women and children," Sanders said on the Senate floor.

His remarks came as student protests over Israel's war on Gaza have spread to many college campuses after being inspired by demonstrators at New York's Columbia University.

Hundreds of students have been arrested on campuses, with protests demanding universities divest from Israel and condemning the war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

"I suggest that CNN and maybe some of my colleagues here may take your cameras, just for a moment, off Columbia and off UCLA (the University of California, Los Angeles). Maybe go to Gaza and take your cameras and show us the emaciated children who are dying from malnutrition because of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's policies," Sanders said.

'Growing Islamophobia'

"Show us the kids who have lost their arms and their legs. Show us the suffering that is going on over there," he added.

Turning to the protests across US college campuses, Sanders said he condemns all forms of violence, whether it is committed by people who support Israel's war policies or by people who oppose those policies, adding that all forms of bigotry in the US must be condemned and eliminated.

"We are seeing a growth of antisemitism in this country, which we must all condemn and work to stop. We are also seeing a growth of Islamophobia in this country, which we must all condemn and stop," he added.

Sanders reiterated that it is "not antisemitic" to hold Netanyahu and his government accountable for their actions.