Appearing on CNN, Bernie Sanders, the Democratic nominee for the US presidency in 2020, said he supports Israel’s right to exist and considers himself pro-Israel, but doesn’t support the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was reelected earlier this month.
Senator Sanders said on Monday that Israel is currently run by a “right-wing, racist government,” reports Haaretz.
When asked about his views regarding the Jewish state, Sanders, himself Jewish, said he had spent a number of months in Israel as a young man, working at a kibbutz.
“I have family in Israel. I am not anti-Israel. But the fact of the matter is that Netanyahu is a right-wing politician who, I think, is treating the Palestinians extremely unfairly.”
Sanders then added: “The United States gives billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. I just believe that the US should deal with the Middle East on a level-playing-field basis. In other words, the goal must be to try to bring people together and not just support one country, which is now run by a right-wing and, dare I say, racist government.”
"I am not anti-Israel, but the fact of the matter is Netanyahu is a right wing politician who is treating the Palestinian people very unfairly".
Sanders is not the only prominent Democratic candidate not to mince words in describing Netanyahu and his government.
Last month, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke berated Netanyahu for being a racist, pointing to the Israeli PM's political pact with the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, now a part of the Union of Right-Wing Parties, ahead of Israel's general election, and to his "warning that Arab voters are going to the polls."
A spate of other Democratic candidates have directly criticised Netanyahu over the last several months, including Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also criticised Netanyahu's policies recently, vociferously calling for reductions in both military and economic aid to Israel.
Under Donald Trump, the United States has endorsed Israel on several controversial points.
Washington has recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the local US embassy to the disputed city, and has okayed Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, which are considered an occupied part of Syria by the United Nations.
