Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized the federal government for ordering U.S. airlines to avoid flying into Israel, saying the travel advisory was “overreacting in typical bureaucratic fashion.”
He characterized the FAA’s flight ban as a “mistake,” during an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer broadcast on Wednesday’s “The Lead,” saying, “You cannot shut down everything just because one terrorist on the other side of the world says ‘I’m going to be a threat.’”
“The fact that one rocket falls far away from this airport, a mile away, doesn’t mean you should shut down air traffic into a country and paralyze the country,” he continued. He concluded that taking the position of “ultimate caution” was a victory for terrorists.
Bloomberg did strongly take issue when Blitzer asked if the State Department’s travel advisory was politically motivated, angrily retorting that Blitzer’s question was “an outrage,” and “insulting to America.”
When asked why he was visiting Israel, he responded “I just wanted to do something personally to show my support for standing up for what’s right. I think Israel is doing that. Hamas is trying to kill the Palestinians and kill the Israelis.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter: @IanHanchett
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