Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon accused Senator Bernie Sanders of being a “dangerous combination” of an ignoramus and a liar after the Democratic presidential candidate called the Israeli prime minister a racist.
Danon spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) 2020 conference on Sunday after Sanders declined to address the summit stating he remained “concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.”
“We don’t want Sanders here at AIPAC, and not in Israel. Anyone who calls the Israeli prime minister a racist is a liar or an ignoramus, or a dangerous combination of the two,” Danon stated.
The Jewish Vermont Senator is running to become the Democrats’ presidential candidate. He announced during a debate last Tuesday that if he becomes president he would consider moving the US’ embassy in Israel back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. President Donald Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018.
He further alleged that “sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country.”
Danon also revealed that the US administration is likely to take action against those who cooperate with the UN Black List recently published by the UN Human Rights Council.
“This further attests to the strength of the bond of the US-Israel relationship and the alliance between the peoples,” said Danon.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHRC) Michelle Bachelet last month published a blacklist 112 of Israeli and foreign companies operating in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights that are accused of doing business with Israeli companies based in “occupied territory,” including 94 businesses located in Israel, and another 18 in six other countries.
The report has no power to levy sanctions or otherwise punish companies. However, the list could put pressure on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to follow up and act against Israel and could be used as a weapon by advocates of boycotts against Israel.
The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations condemned the OHCHR for its release of the list and warned against acting on it.
Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated that release of the “incredibly biased” report was “unacceptable” and accused the OHCHR of “direct support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement against our close ally Israel.”
The US’ former Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said that the UN “hit a new low” with the publishing of “its anti-Semitic blacklist of companies it claims are involved in Israeli ‘settlement activity’.”
“The timing of this after the US released a peace plan is conniving and manipulative at best. Shameful,” she added.