NEW YORK – Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Senator running for reelection, has “clearly and transparently” taken a “calculated position” to move toward the “anti-Israel camp,” charged Breitbart Jerusalem chief Aaron Klein during a radio interview.
Klein pointed to his Breitbart piece from Thursday outlining Gillibrand’s recent seemingly troubling views, legislative decisions and associations that, Klein wrote, “evidence an alarming ideology” when it comes to a lack of support for America’s only democratic ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel.
Klein said he believes that Gillibrand’s alleged shift in positions away from the Democratic Party’s previous traditional mainstream support for Israel “says a lot about the future of the Democratic Party” as the 2020 presidential election approaches. Gillibrand is widely seen as a potential Democratic candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
Klein was speaking during his regular segment on John Batchelor’s national nighttime radio program.
Listen here:
The Breitbart reporter said that when it comes to anti-Israel ideology among some Democrats “it is one thing and we expect it when we see an out-and-out radical like Bernie Sanders” or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th congressional district.
“But the fact that you have a political animal like Gillibrand,” Klein continued, “somebody who has to be doing this as a political calculation, to me I think this sets off alarm bells.”
Klein continued:
I am looking at what is happening in Europe right now. Especially the transformation that we are seeing within huge chunks of the UK Labour Party and we do need to ask some questions about whether the Democratic Party is also trending in that direction. And that direction again is clearly the anti-Israel camp.
Klein argued that anti-Israel attitudes go “side-by-side” with “antipatriotic … anti-capitalist certainly sort of borderline socialist ideology.”
In Thursday’s Breitbart News piece, Klein outlined “five reasons Gillibrand is dangerous for Israel.”
Those reasons, the reporter contended, include:
- Gillibrand broke from the mainstream of the Democratic Party when she withdrew support from the “Israel Anti-Boycott Act,” which opposes the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel.
- Gillibrand provided key support for President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which the Israeli government strongly opposed over security concerns. She also opposed Trump’s decision to leave the Iran accord in hopes of negotiating a better deal.
- Gillibrand glowingly praised virulent anti-Israel activist and radical Linda Sarsour.
- Gillibrand sided with an anti-Israel activist who claimed the Israeli government does not respect Palestinian rights. She also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who offered the Palestinians a state on numerous occasions, as “not hav[ing] a plan for peace.”
- Gillibrand voted against confirming Israel supporter David Friedman as President Trump’s ambassador to Israel.