In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Israeli-American media producer and Democratic mega-donor Haim Saban declares that he loves every Trump challenger besides Bernie Sanders and blames the Vermont Senator for stoking anti-Israel sentiment within the Democratic Party.
Saban, who is worth an estimated $3.2 billion, has donated millions of dollars to Democrats and pro-Israel efforts throughout the years alongside his wife Cheryl, president of their Saban Family Foundation. “The basic strategy is 50-50. Meaning for every dollar we give in America, we give a dollar in Israel,” he says in the interview.
Although the couple says they have not picked a Democratic presidential candidate yet, they reserve a particular amount of scorn for Bernie Sanders’ campaign. Saban tells the magazine:
“We love all 23 candidates. No, minus one. I profoundly dislike Bernie Sanders, and you can write it. I don’t give a hoot. He’s a communist under the cover of being a socialist. He thinks that every billionaire is a crook. He calls us ‘the billionaire class.’ And he attacks us indiscriminately. ‘It’s the billionaire class, the bad guys.’ This is how communists think. So, 22 are great. One is a disaster zone.”
When asked about Democrats skipping the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Summit, Saban blames the move on Sanders himself:
“I can’t deny the impact that Bernie has had on the Democratic Party. I love it when Bernie says, ‘I recognize Israel’s right to exist.’ That’s how he expresses his support of Israel. Well, thank you so very much. Are you out of your freaking mind? Oh, I’m allowed to live. Hallelujah, praise the lord.”
This isn’t the first time that Saban has accused Sanders of anti-Israel bias. During the 2016 Democratic primary, Saban claimed that Sanders had been an “anti-Israel person” for 25 years. Between June 2015 and June 2016, Saban and his wife donated $7 million to Priorities USA, the primary super PAC that supported Hillary Clinton.
In the interview, Saban also criticizes New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a May 2018 where she referenced the “massacre” in Gaza:
“AOC made a statement: ‘There’s a massacre in Gaza,’ ” he says. “She was asked a question related to what’s going on between Israel and the Palestinians, and she said, ‘Well, I’m going to have to study this.’ So, here she made a statement that is pretty scary and pretty compelling but misinformed. Why don’t you go study and then make a statement?”
The entire interview can be read at Hollywood Reporter‘s website.
HAIM SABAN- “He’s a communist under the cover of being a socialist.”
No, he is a Democrat sheep dog pretending to be a man of the people.
HAIM SABAN- “He thinks that every billionaire is a crook.”
He only pretends to. Any system which tolerates billionaires is inherently unjust and economically dysfunctional. Billionaires and mega-corporations are unaccountable concentrations of private power locked in to internal power struggles injurious to the commonweal. Fat-cats hold the citizenry in utter contempt.
if sanders was an ardent hard core zionist who took millions from aipac saban wouldn’t give a hoot if sanders thought billionaires were crooks.
Yes, there certainly is a billionaire class, and the worse among them are those who use their money to buy politicians, like Saban. The fact that he is interviewed already demonstrates that there is a problem: what makes him qualified to determine US foreign policy? Why does he think that he should have more say in politics than any other American? What makes this vile person more special other than having more money? These handful of crooks who pull the strings of American politics should be exposed and their motivation questioned. These Zionist billionaires should be subsidizing Israel from their own money instead of lobbying the government take money from Americans who don’t even have health insurance and give it to their ethno state.
Jared Kushner was instrumental in handing over Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, to the zionists. Yet, he begged the Arabs for those millions of dollars to bail him out of his endless financial problems, and not these filthy rich billionaires, like Adelson, and Saban, who works hard for the zionists, and always puts Israel first over their own nation. You have got to wonder why.
It is cringeworthy to see politicians kiss up to these zionist money bags, and make asses of themselves, and it is hard to find any who has the integrity and self respect, not to do so.
It is selling your soul to the devils.
I am not convinced that the full court press of Netanyahu and Saban is Israel’s best tactic or strategy. It is the lack of a strategy that might be the source of my doubts. Regarding Iran, Trump seems to lack a strategy. Regarding the West Bank Israel definitely lacks a (long term) strategy. Saban de facto supports Israel’s status quo that feels it necessary or advantageous to keep the status quo regarding the West Bank.
Regarding Bernie Sanders, I think it’s safe to say that he is against Netanyahu and against the status quo on the West Bank. How he would handle it, is a different question. I kind of doubt he will be the Democratic candidate. I was not impressed by him at the debate.
Billionaires who throw their weight around in politics is certainly less than ideal. Springsteen sang, “Poor man wanna be rich/Rich man wanna be king”. Getting money out of politics is probably impossible, but a better job of restraining the role of money in politics could be a goal. Could be a goal, but is certainly not a goal of the current president and Senate and supreme court.