Bloomberg at AIPAC attacks Sanders for boycotting conference
Democratic presidential candidate, former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference on March 2, 2020 in Washington, DC. Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Mike Bloomberg, the only Democratic presidential candidate to attend the AIPAC policy conference this year in person, attacked Bernie Sanders for boycotting the event, drawing loud applause on Monday.
“Senator Sanders has spent 30 years boycotting this event,” Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, said of his rival in the race for the party’s nomination. “And as you’ve heard by now, he called AIPAC a racist platform. Well he’s dead wrong.”
The Vermont senator, who is boycotting this year’s event over what he says are concerns that AIPAC provides a “platform” for “leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights,” has attended previous AIPAC conferences.
Sanders fought to speak at the policy conference in 2016 during his last run for the Democratic presidential nomination, but the American Israel Political Affairs Committee would not accommodate his request to speak remotely from the campaign trail. The Israel lobby had extended that courtesy to candidates in 2012 and did so this year.
Bloomberg also said he would “never impose conditions on military aid” to Israel “no matter what government is in power.” That appeared to be a reference to pledges by Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who have said they would condition aid.
Bloomberg also alluded to but did not name President Donald Trump toward the end of his speech when he referred to the dangers in the rise of anti-Semitism and other bigotries.
Anti-Semitism “can be found both on the right and the left,” Bloomberg said, “but there is one fact that we cannot ignore: Presidential leadership matters. It sets a tone. It is either inclusive or exclusive, divisive or uniting, incendiary or calming.”
The remarks also drew extended applause.
The post Mike Bloomberg, speaking at AIPAC, attacks Bernie Sanders for boycotting Israel lobby’s conference appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
