Bloomberg Criticizes Sanders’s AIPAC Position as ‘Dead Wrong’
Bloomberg Criticizes Sanders’s AIPAC Position as ‘Dead Wrong’
(Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg criticized Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders’s opposition to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, saying it undermines bipartisan support for Israel and weakens the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Sanders has been highly critical of AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington, calling it a platform “for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights” and declined to speak at its annual conference. Bloomberg, speaking to the group Monday, said that Sanders is “dead wrong.”
“This is a gathering of 20,000 Israel supporters of every religious denomination, ethnicity, faith, color, sexual identity, and political party,” Bloomberg said. “Calling it a racist platform is an attempt to discredit those voices, intimidate people from coming here, and weaken the US-Israel relationship.”
Sanders skipped a presentation to the group as a presidential candidate in 2016. Several other Democrats have also decided not to attend the annual forum as the group has grown increasingly conservative and more liberal voters disapprove of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies toward Palestinians.
Bloomberg has become increasingly critical of Sanders ahead of Super Tuesday as Sanders has emerged as the leading contender, saying the self-described democratic socialist has extreme policy positions, would lose to President Donald Trump in November and would contribute to other Democrats losing down the ballot.
(Disclaimer: Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)
Sanders in turn gone after the billionaire, who is self-fundng his campaign with hundreds of millions of dollars in spending, for trying to “buy” the nomination.
Sanders has denounced the group as a platform “for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights” and called Netanyahu as a “reactionary racist.”
Both Sanders and Bloomberg are vying to become the first Jewish Democratic nominee and president.
In an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sanders said he’s proud of his Jewish heritage.
“I am not anti-Israel. I will do everything I can to protect the independence and the security and the freedom of the Israeli people,” he said. “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.”
Bloomberg said in his speech to AIPAC that he supports a two-state solution for peace in the Middle East.
“I will also never stop working for a peace plan that has as its foundation two states: one Jewish, and one Palestinian, achieved through direct negotiations,” he said. “Because Israel must remain a prosperous, secure, and stable Jewish democracy and because Palestinians deserve dignity, democracy and opportunity, as well.”
Bloomberg said he will never impose conditions on military aid to Israel, “no matter what government is in power.” That doesn’t mean agreeing with everything either government does, and one example is the Iran nuclear deal, he said.
The former New York mayor said despite his opposition to the pact, which Israel also opposed, he also didn’t approve of the way Trump unilaterally withdrew from the six-nation deal in 2018, saying it was “tantamount to giving Iran permission to re-launch its nuclear program.”
Bloomberg also vowed to fight rising anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews, and he said while it can be found on both the right and left, the tone the president sets matters.
“Presidential leadership matters,” he said. “It sets a tone. It is either inclusive or exclusive, divisive or uniting, incendiary or calming.”
Bloomberg has said Trump is harming the U.S. relationship with Israel because the president is “trying to use Israel as a wedge issue for his own electoral purposes.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan Crane
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