Comment: Believe it or not, Bernie - unique among his Democratic elders (though Tulsi Gabbard likewise has never done so) has never abased himself before the AIPAC horde...
© AP/Steve HelberDemocratic candidate for president Senator Bernie Sanders
At a conference hosted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Danny Danon made the daring remark — which could be construed as Israeli interference in the election process in the United States — in reaction to Sanders recently calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "reactionary racist."
"Whoever calls the prime minister of Israel a 'racist' is either a liar, an ignorant fool, or both," Danon said. "We don't want Sanders at AIPAC. We don't want him in Israel."
Out of all the Democratic candidates running for president, Sanders has been the most outspoken on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, calling for an "evenhanded" US approach more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
Last Sunday, Sanders said on Twitter that he would not attend the powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC's annual conference, emphasizing that he was "concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."
In a debate last week, Sanders said that "right now, sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country." Sanders also said that if elected president, he would consider moving the US embassy from Jerusalem back to Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu gave a restrained response a day later, telling Army Radio simply: "What I think about this issue is that he is of course wrong, no question." But, he added: "I am not intervening in the US elections."
Comment: "I am not, but watch what AIPAC can do for me!"
Asked how he would handle a Sanders presidency, Netanyahu said he'd stood up to US leaders in the past and could do so again.
Netanyahu has enjoyed a close relationship with US President Donald Trump, whom he has praised as "the greatest friend" Jerusalem has had in the White House. But his relationship with Trump's predecessor Barack Obama was decidedly frosty and strained in its latter years — particularly surrounding US negotiations with Iran that resulted in the 2015 nuclear deal.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz was more outspoken after the Tuesday debate, lambasting Sanders' comments as "shocking."
"The remark by Sanders, who is of Jewish background, is his second against the State of Israel on topics that are at the core of Jewish belief, Jewish history and Israel's security," Katz added.
The first such remark was made at a J Street conference in October, when Sanders openly considered cutting US aid to Israel and giving the funds instead for humanitarian relief in Gaza in order to pressure the Jewish state to curb its settlement enterprise, enter peace talks with the Palestinians and improve the humanitarian crisis in the Strip.
"I would use the leverage of $3.8 billion. It is a lot of money, and we cannot give it carte blanche to the Israeli government, or for that matter to any government at all. We have a right to demand respect for human rights and democracy."Katz said:
"The previous time he talked about Gaza... without at all understanding the reality and the threat and the rockets and everything we are facing as those who are being attacked by radical Islam and defending ourselves. He in effect wanted to deny us the right to self-defense.A poll by the nonpartisan Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI) has said Sanders would overwhelmingly outperform Trump with Jewish voters in a head-to-head match-up this fall. The self-proclaimed democratic socialist would defeat Trump with the demographic group 65% to 30%, despite only 52% of American Jews having a favorable view of Sanders and 45% having an unfavorable view of him, the survey found.
"And now, Jerusalem. There is no Jew who hasn't dreamed of Jerusalem for thousands of years, to return, and we returned and I think President Trump did an important thing, without connection to internal disagreements within the United States. He recognized the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the State of Israel."
Trump is far more unpopular with the US Jewish community. Sixty-six percent of the poll's respondents disapprove of the job he's doing in office.
Sanders spent months living in a kibbutz in the 1960s — an experience he has cited in the past to affirm his commitment to Israel's security. He said at the J Street conference in October:
"I am very proud to be Jewish and look forward to being the first Jewish president. I spent many months on a kibbutz in Israel. I believe absolutely not only in the right of Israel to exist but the right to exist in peace and security. That's not a question.
"But what I also believe is the Palestinian people have a right to live in peace and security as well."
Comment: Finally, a US presidential candidate who is at least declaring that he will stand up to Israel.
Provided he makes it to the Democratic nomination.
Yesterday, during an interview with CBS's Face The Nation, Sanders said this:
The CEO of AIPAC immediately responded - at the very get-together Sanders is making a point of not attending... Meanwhile a rambling rant on AIPAC's Twitter page opened with this veiled threat - never mentioning Sanders by name - but clearly directed at him:
Trump strategically aligned himself with Israel to capture the presidency in the US. If Sanders attempts the opposite approach, it'll be interesting to see - again, provided Sanders isn't ousted in a coup beforehand - which bet pays off with American voters.