Michael Bloomberg splits with rivals on military aid to Israel

Michael Bloomberg has made his case for the presidency to fellow Jewish Americans, vowing not to revisit US aid to Israel.

Michael Bloomberg presses the flesh at the Turnberry Jewish Centre in Aventura, Florida, on Monday. Picture: AFP

Michael Bloomberg has made his case for the presidency to fellow Jewish Americans, vowing not to revisit US aid to Israel — an ­approach that contrasts the billionaire with several of his Democratic rivals, including his only fellow Jewish candidate in the race, Bernie Sanders.

The media mogul, at a speech on Monday (AEDT) announcing a coalition of Jewish American supporters in Florida, vowed he would “never impose conditions” on US military aid to Israel if elected.

Senator Sanders and rivals ­Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg have all left open the option of leveraging that aid to dissuade the Israeli government from annexation and settlement expansions in the West Bank.

“As president, I will always have Israel’s back,” said Mr Bloomberg, who served three terms as mayor of New York.

It wasn’t the only distinction Mr Bloomberg drew with Senator Sanders, a US senator from Vermont. In a line that drew laughs from the audience, he said he was the only Jewish candidate in the race not looking to “turn America into a kibbutz”. Senator Sanders volunteered on a leftist kibbutz in the 1960s, and has championed a democratic socialism that Mr Bloomberg opposes.

He entered the race too late to register for the Iowa caucus next Monday and the New Hampshire primary on February 11.

Mr Bloomberg’s wide-ranging speech touched on rising acts of ­violence against American Jews, criticism of President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal, a strong defence of Israel and the importance of protecting all marginalised groups from hatred and threats.

“This time is a time of great anxiety in the Jewish community, both around the world and here at home — as ancient hatreds are given fresh currency with new technologies,” he said. “We are confronted by signs that we thought we would never see outside of old black-and-white newsreels: synagogues attacked, Jews murdered, Nazis marching brazenly and openly by torchlight.”

Mr Bloomberg made only passing reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying he “will not wait three years” to release a peace plan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz are set to meet Mr Trump in Washington this week as he prepares to release his long-awaited Middle East peace plan.

Former vice-president Joe Biden, like Mr Bloomberg, has ruled out the idea of leveraging US military aid to Israel, which has ­expanded settlements in the West Bank that the Trump administration decided to no longer consider a violation of international law. Every Democrat vying to challenge Mr Trump supports an eventual two-state solution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to coexist peacefully.

Mr Bloomberg’s approach to rising anti-Semitism put him more squarely in line with the rest of the Democratic primary field. Like his rivals, he laid blame at Mr Trump’s feet for rising discriminatory episodes targeting Jews as well as other minority groups.

“Anti-Semitism is the original conspiracy theory,” he said. “And a world in which a president traffics in conspiracy theories is a world in which Jews are not safe.”

Mr Trump has faced criticism for invoking anti-Semitic tropes, such as his remark last year that Jewish Americans who voted Democratic were “disloyal” to their religion.

Mr Bloomberg accused Mr Trump of “trying to use Israel as a wedge issue for his own electoral purposes”.

But acknowledging that “there is no single answer” for a recent rise in anti-Semitism, Mr Bloomberg outlined what he described as discrimination against Jews “on both the right and the left”.

AP