Democratic Megadonor Haim Saban Attacks Senators For Backing Gaza Aid

Haim Saban interviews President Obama at the Saban Forum on Middle East policy. Image by Getty Images

By Aiden Pink June 20, 2018

Democratic megadonor Haim Saban reprimanded senators from his party who signed Sen. Bernie Sanders’s letter calling for increased humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, The Intercept reported Wednesday.

Saban, an Israeli-American media mogul and one of the top donors to the Democratic Party, wrote a stern email to six of the 13 senators who signed on to the letter asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “act urgently in order to help relieve the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.”

Saban structured his email as a fact-check, blaming Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for the humanitarian difficulties in Gaza.

“Senators, for you to listen to Senator Sanders and accuse Israel of being the main culprit is outrageous, misinformed, offensive and shows a lack of understanding of the region’s basic fundamentals,” he wrote. “Do your homework, unless you have chosen to blindly follow Senator Sander’s [sic] ill advised, misinformed, simplistic, and ignorant lead.”

The Sanders letter, which was reportedly the first since 2006 that had multiple senators challenging Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, was also signed by Dianne Feinstein and Elizabeth Warren, among other party leaders.

Saban has prioritized Israel in his advocacy and philanthropy. “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel,” he told the New Yorker in 2010. He was one of the biggest donors to the political campaigns of Bill and Hillary Clinton over the decades.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

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