Huckabee blasts 'insane' Bernie for embracing Russia, Cuba over Israel
2020 hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders calls Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu a 'racist' and refuses to attend AIPAC; Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee reacts.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, for embracing Russia and Cuba over Israel.
Huckabee, who recently returned from a trip to Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made the statements on “Fox & Friends” Thursday reacting to Sanders' claim that Netanyahu is a “racist.”
During Tuesday's Democratic presidential debate, Sanders, who is Jewish, said, “Right now sadly, tragically in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country.”
Sanders’ comment came days after the Vermont senator announced he would not attend this year's AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] conference next month, writing in a tweet that the pro-Israel group provides a platform “for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.”
“Israel is a free country. People have free speech. They get to vote. They can disagree with their government. They can speak out against their government,” Huckabee, a Fox News contributor, said.
Huckabee called Sanders' views on Israel and Netanyahu "insane," defending the prime minister from claims of racism.
“If you get sick in Israel, it doesn't matter whether you're Muslim, Christian or Jew, you get the same exact treatment in a hospital, you get to ride on the same roads and the Jewish state of Israel protects the religious liberty of all faiths including Muslims and Christians,” he noted.
Host Pete Hegseth compared President Trump and Sanders, noting that Trump “built a historic relationship with the state of Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu.”
During his time in office, Trump has moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region.
Hegseth then pointed out that Sanders, “point blank” said that “Netanyahu is a racist” and asked Huckabee why.
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“Because he's crazy and he doesn't care what he says,” Huckabee responded. “He's the same guy that embraces socialism all over the world in places where it’s murdered millions of people. He ignores that little fact in order to say that somehow people under his socialist government would live better.”
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He then reiterated that “there's no racism in Benjamin Netanyahu” and called Sanders’ claim “absurd.”
“It's foolish on its face, even his political opponents and the press, which is very left-wing in Israel, as nutty and as far to the left as they are, they don't even say that about Netanyahu,” he noted.
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