U.S. Elections
Vice President Mike Pence also criticized Democratic candidates for not challenging Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) about his views on AIPAC and Israel during the Feb. 25 debate in South Carolina.
“This is a gathering of 20,000 Israel supporters of every religious denomination, ethnicity, faith, color, sexual identity and political party. Calling it a racist platform is an attempt to discredit those voices, intimidate people from coming here and weaken the U.S.-Israel relationship,” said Michael Bloomberg, directing his comments at Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“‘Israelis wake up every morning facing an existential threat from their neighbors,” said the former vice president, citing the constant threat Israel faces on its southern border with the Gaza Strip.
That Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has called the Israeli prime minister a racist means he “is either a liar, an ignorant fool or both,” says Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon.
When it comes to the issues, Charleston varies in what it prioritizes outside of what Brandon Fish, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Charleston, called the “unifying issues that Jews … around the country care about,” including the State of Israel and the democratic process, especially as the primary is on a Saturday.
Michael Bloomberg will speak at the annual conference, to be held March 1-3 in Washington, D.C., with the final day falling on Super Tuesday, when 14 states will hold presidential primaries.
Following the Democratic debate at the Charleston Gaillard Center, in response to whether or not she would attend, Klobuchar replied “No” to JNS, citing that the conference coincides with Super Tuesday on March 3, when 14 states will hold their primaries.
“As strong supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship and AIPAC’s role in advancing it, we reject Senator Bernie Sanders’ outrageous comment accusing AIPAC of fostering bigotry,” begins the letter.
“I don’t think we need to have ground troops anywhere terrorists can gather because terrorists can gather anywhere in the world. But we do need intelligence capabilities and specialists on the ground,” said former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan.
AIPAC said “by engaging in such an odious attack on this mainstream, bipartisan American political event, Senator [Bernie] Sanders is insulting his very own colleagues and the millions of Americans who stand with Israel.”
“I’m always concerned when a discussion of who should be the next president of the United States doesn’t include a conversation about rising anti-Semitism or virtually anything about Middle East policy,” said former National Jewish Democratic Council head Aaron Keyak.
It has managed to get a vague commitment from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to skip the conference, though it hasn’t seemed to affect other presidential candidates.
