On Sunday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, affirmed he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem if it were needed to get some kind of peace deal in the Middle East.
Sanders would not offer specifics when pressed by “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd but added his goal was to “bring people together” in the name of peace.
Partial transcript as follows:
TODD: A couple of questions. I’m curious. On the issue of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, would you move it back out of Jerusalem, if you thought it was a way to get a peace deal?
SANDERS: Yeah. I think it’s something that we should — I can’t give you a definitive answer, but yeah. The answer is, look, whether it is Iran and Saudi Arabia, whether it is Israel and the Palestinians, the United States needs to bring people together, needs an even-handed policy. In Saudi Arabia, for example, for decades, we have supported a murderous regime which fights democracy every single day. So I want an even-handed policy which brings people together.
TODD: Would you move the embassy, now, out of Jerusalem? Or would you keep it there for the present?
SANDERS: Look, Chuck, that is — we’ll take that one step at a time. It’s something — you know, bottom line is, we need to be a — we are the most powerful country on Earth. Let’s bring people together and try to bring peace.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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