Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon lashed out at the independent senator from Vermont and current frontrunner in the Democratic nomination contest Bernie Sanders on Sunday.
Speaking at the start of The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference in Washington, DC, the envoy criticized Sanders over his repeated attacks on Israeli policy and his pro-Palestinian positions.
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"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," Danon said.
Danon was presumably referring to Sanders's latest attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a recent presidential debate. During that event, Sanders called Israel a racist state.
"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 concessions to the Palestinians.
