Michael Bloomberg will speak at AIPAC
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg will speak at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, the first U.S. presidential candidate to be confirmed as a speaker.
Bloomberg’s participation in the conference, being held March 1-3 in Washington, D.C., was announced by AIPAC on Tuesday evening, just hours before he appeared on stage at a Democratic primary debate in Charleston, South Carolina.
The announcement comes two days after Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders announced he would not be attending, saying the pro-Israel lobby serves as a “platform for bigotry.”
Sanders and Bloomberg, the two Jewish candidates in the race, addressed questions about Israel and U.S. support for the Jewish state during the Tuesday night debate, with Sanders describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “reactionary racist” and Bloomberg saying it was a mistake for the Trump administration to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem without getting something in return from Israel.
During the debate, a tweet from Bloomberg’s account said: “To characterize AIPAC as a racist platform is offensive, divisive, and dangerous to Israel – America’s most important ally in the Middle East – and to Jews. How can Bernie profess he’s the path to unity when he’s already managed to polarize a people and a party?”
Vice President Mike Pence was also confirmed as an AIPAC speaker on Tuesday, as were other members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and David Friedman, the American ambassador to Israel. President Donald Trump has not attended an AIPAC convention since he was a candidate.
Among the Democrats speaking will be two high-profile New York lawmakers, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, chair of the House Democratic Caucus and one of the House managers in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
The post Michael Bloomberg will speak at AIPAC conference appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
