Bernie Sanders on Sunday swatted aside attacks from the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, after the latter called the Vermont Senator a "liar" over remarks critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sanders lashed out at Netanyahu during the Democratic debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday, noting that “in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country”.
In a bid to clarify his stance regarding Tel Aviv, Sanders, who lived in Israel during the 1960s, pointed out during a Sunday interview on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’, that while he dies not support Netanyahu, he nonetheless supports Israel, noting that he will do “everything [he] can to protect the independence and the security and the freedom of the Israeli people”.
“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,” the Senator observed.
Sanders noted that although he has paid the political cost of antagonizing the pro-Israel lobby, it has not affected his Jewish heritage or his support for peace in the Middle East.
“I am pro-Israel. I am pro-Palestinian,” the presidential hopeful stated on live TV, adding, “I want to bring people together to finally achieve peace in that region”.
On Sunday, Danon declared before a conference hosted by the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby in Washington that Sanders is not welcome at AIPAC events or in Israel, claiming that “anyone who calls our prime minister a 'racist' is either a liar, an ignorant fool, or both”.
Senator Sanders is holding first place in the race for the Democratic party nomination for the US 2020 presidential election. Although he gained less delegates than former US President Joe Biden in Saturday’s primary in South Carolina, the firebrand politician currently holds the highest delegate number.
