Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon lashed out at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday over the Democratic presidential candidate’s repeated attacks on Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking at the start of the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., Danon said the Vermont senator, who announced on Feb. 23 that he was skipping the conference, was not wanted there in any case.
“We don’t want Sanders at AIPAC. We don’t want him in Israel,” said Danon. “Anyone who calls our prime minister a ‘racist’ is either a liar, an ignorant fool or both.”
Sanders, who is currently leading the race for the Democratic nomination, has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a racist on multiple occasions.
The Vermont senator has also come under repeated criticism for maligning Israel, including accusing Israel of killing “over 10,000 innocent” Palestinian civilians during the 2014 summer war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip (though he later said he was not sure of that figure).
Sanders, who has recently said that he was proud of potentially being the first Jewish president, has further called for the conditioning of U.S. military aid to Israel on concessions to the Palestinians.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.