The Republican Jewish Coalition issued a strong rebuke of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday after he once again called Israel a racist state.
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Sanders made the comments at a town hall meeting hosted by CNN in Las Vegas on Monday after an audience member asked, "How do US-Israel relations look under your administration?"
"To be for the Israeli people and to be for peace in the Middle East does not mean that we have to support right-wing, racist governments that currently exist in Israel," Sanders said, and added that the US "cannot simply be one that we're just pro-Israel and we ignore the needs of the Palestinian people."
Sanders has come under repeated criticism for maligning Israel and has even accused Israel of reportedly killing some 10,000 people in one of the Gaza wars (he later said he was not sure of that figure).
Sanders, who has recently said he was proud of potentially being the first Jewish president, has often called on the US government to condition its military aid to Israel on Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks issued the following statement on Wednesday: "Sanders says he supports the Israeli people, just not their democratic government. As it happens, the policies that Sanders calls racist are supported by all the major contenders to be the next Israeli prime minister and by the vast majority of Israeli voters, because they defend the basic national security needs of the Jewish state."
Brooks called Sanders behavior outrageous, saying that accusing Israel of being racist was "ironic" due to the fact that Sanders "has chosen virulently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic individuals to represent him as surrogates in his campaign and who has been endorsed by a Who's Who of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic personalities."
Brooks goes on to list the surrogates: "Start with surrogates Linda Sarsour (who described herself as "an unapologetic pro-BDS, one-state solution supporting resistance supporter") and Amer Zahr (who tweeted: "Describing defenders of Israel as 'scumbags,' 'pigs,' and 'bastards' is not necessary. 'Zionist' is sufficently insulting"). Then there are the endorsements from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), whose anti-Semitic comments are well documented."
Brooks concluded that "This is just another example of the deepening and deeply troubling alienation between the Democratic Party and Israel."
.@BernieSanders on #CNNTownHall: "To be for the Israeli people and to be for peace in the Middle East does not mean that we have to support right wing racist governments that currently exist in Israel... pic.twitter.com/L3tqrt3pcE
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) February 19, 2020
