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Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg, AFP
Sanders and Danon
Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg, AFP

Israel's UN envoy hits back at Sanders' Gaza comments

Danon questions Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate's familiarity with Mideast affairs after he suggests U.S. should leverage military aid to Israel if latter doesn't change its policy in Hamas-run Strip

Israel Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Monday hit back at U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders after the latter suggested that military aid to Israel should be conditioned on Israel changing its policy in the Gaza Strip.

 

 

"Mr. Sanders, a few months on a kibbutz in 1963 can only teach you so much," said Danon at the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) gala in New York City, according to the Jewish Insider website.

 

Israel Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon (Photo: AP)
Israel Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon (Photo: AP)

 

Danon mocked the Vermont senator's brief stint in Israel 56 years ago, which Sanders often mentions, and stressed that the comments made by presidential hopeful Sanders “undermine the security of both Israel and the U.S.”

 

“Perhaps Mr. Sanders didn’t hear about Israel leaving Gaza in 2005,” the ambassador said. “Maybe he hasn’t had the chance to visit the Kerem Shalom crossing, where hundreds of trucks pass daily to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. Maybe he doesn’t know about the terror tunnels.”

 

Danon said diverting aid from Israel to Gaza would only benefit Hamas, which controls the coastal enclave.

 

"He (Sanders) is suggesting to give less military assistance to the United States’ most important ally in the Middle East in order to give it to Hamas, a terrorist organization that celebrated the tragedy of 9/11. Let me assure you my friends, we will never let that happen,” Danon told the audience. “We will fight against these radical voices.”

 

Danon's jab at the Democrat presidential hopeful came after the latter called the Netanyahu administration "racist" at the annual J Street national conference last month.

 

Bernie Sanders at the annual J Street conference (Photo: AFP)
Bernie Sanders at the annual J Street conference (Photo: AFP)

 

"It is not anti-Semitism to say that Netanyahu’s government has been racist, but a fact,” Sanders said.

 

Sanders also heavily criticized U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, questioning both leaders' credibility.

 

“You’re looking at leaders, one is going to be impeached, the other one may end up in jail, so I don’t know how much credibility they have, actually in terms of integrity,” Sanders said.

 

Sanders, 78, was hospitalized in October after experiencing chest pains at a campaign event in Las Vegas. A blockage was found in one coronary artery and two stents were inserted.

 

According to recent national polls, Sanders is polling third in the race for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, after former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

 

Sanders was a prominent candidate in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, losing to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – who went on to lose to Donald Trump.

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.18.19, 11:24
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