On Sunday, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, ripped Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), calling him an “ignorant fool”, and declared “We don’t want him in Israel.”
This comes after Sanders declared a week ago that he would not attend AIPAC, claiming that it was a platform for “bigotry.” During the Democrat debate in South Carolina this week, the Vermont Senator also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “reactionary racist.”
“I’m very proud of being Jewish. I actually lived in Israel for some months. But what I happen to believe is that right now, sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country,” Senator Bernie Sanders said during the debate.
He also said that if elected president, he would consider moving the US embassy from Jerusalem back to Tel Aviv.
A week ago, Sanders took to Twitter writing that he would not attend the pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference, saying that he was “concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.”
During the AIPAC conference, Danny Danon lambasted Sanders on Sunday saying, “Whoever calls the prime minister of Israel a ‘racist’ is either a liar, an ignorant fool, or both. We don’t want Sanders at AIPAC. We don’t want him in Israel.” (Continued Below)
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In the wake of Danon’s comments at the AIPAC conference, Sanders was asked on CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday whether he felt there would be a “political cost” in taking on the pro-Israel lobby.
“Yeah, I do. They have a lot of money, they have a lot of power,” he responded. “Look I’m Jewish and I’m very proud of my Jewish heritage. As a kid, I spent time in Israel. I am not anti-Israel. I do everything I can to protect the independence and the security and the freedom of the Israel people. But what we need in this country, is a foreign policy that not only protects Israel but deals with the suffering of the Palestinian people as well.” (Video Below)
Ambassador Danny Danon also tweeted on Sunday: “Today at #AIPAC2020, I responded to Bernie Sanders’ comments about AIPAC and Israel: “We don’t want Sanders at AIPAC. We don’t want him in Israel. Anyone who calls our prime minister a ‘racist’ is either a liar, an ignorant fool, or both!”
Today at #AIPAC2020, I responded to Bernie Sanders’ comments about AIPAC and Israel:
"We don't want Sanders at AIPAC. We don't want him in Israel. Anyone who calls our prime minister a "racist" is either a liar, an ignorant fool, or both!”— Ambassador Danny Danon | דני דנון (@dannydanon) March 1, 2020
Bernie Sanders calls Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “reactionary racist” during the debate:
If elected, Bernie Sanders would be the first Jewish person to become U.S. president. He would also be the first Democratic nominee to call Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, a racist.
Catch up with key moments from the 10th #DemDebate: https://t.co/lwLYZltxnB pic.twitter.com/gH1uxE7Jbk
— POLITICO (@politico) February 26, 2020
(Continued Below)
Bernie Sanders on Face the Nation:
.@BernieSanders addresses confrontation with @AIPAC: "I'm Jewish and I'm very proud of my Jewish heritage…I am not anti-Israel…but what we need in this country is a foreign policy that not only protects Israel but deals with the suffering of the Palestinian people as well." pic.twitter.com/2gf5psaG3k
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 1, 2020
