Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a swipe at 2020 Democratic front-runner Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont Monday morning while speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference.
Mr. Sanders, although Jewish like Mr. Bloomberg, boycotted the event as he has done in the past.
“Unfortunately, not all of my fellow Democrats in this race have attended an AIPAC conference. One of them, Senator Sanders, has spent 30 years boycotting this event. And as you’ve heard by now, he called AIPAC a racist platform,” Mr. Bloomberg said to the audience.
“Well, let me tell you, he’s dead wrong. This is a gathering of 20,000 Israel supporters of every religious denomination, ethnicity, faith, color, sexual identity and political party. Calling it a racist platform is an attempt to discredit those voices, intimidate people from coming here and weaken the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
The billionaire media mogul promised to defend Israel if elected president and said he would oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which has been backed by progressive members of Congress such as “The Squad,” headed by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a campaign surrogate for Mr. Sanders.
The BDS movement is a Palestinian-led boycott of Israeli businesses and products.
The AIPAC gathering, full of pro-Israel lobbyists and supporters, drew officials from both parties to speak about foreign policy in Washington, D.C.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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