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Sanders campaign hires aide who defended Omar for attacking AIPAC

The Sanders 2020 presidential campaign recently hired Claire Sandberg in a senior role.

By World Israel News Staff

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently hired Claire Sandberg in a senior role in his 2020 presidential campaign, The Washington Free Beacon reports. Sandberg recently praised Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for criticizing the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.

Sandberg will join the Sanders campaign as director of organizing, “a senior leadership role tasked with channeling Sanders’s grassroots support into a proactive volunteer-initiated network,” the Free Beacon reports.

Sandberg had consistently defended Omar, the news site reports. Days after Omar received backlash for tweeting on Feb. 10, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” referring to $100 U.S. bills, her way of saying that AIPAC pays politicians to support Israel, Sandberg said Omar was “unfairly vilified.”

Sandberg also said that people should support Omar with monthly contributions.

“If we think @IlhanMN was unfairly vilified for correctly pointing out the role of money in shaping US policy on Israel, then we should support her not just w/ tweets but also w/ money. I just set up a recurring monthly contribution and I hope you will too,” Sandberg tweeted.

This is not the first time Sanders has hired someone with controversial views relating to Israel.

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Simone Zimmerman briefly served as the Jewish outreach coordinator for Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, a job she held for two days.

She was let go after remarks she made in March 2015 on Facebook came to light in which she described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “arrogant, deceptive, cynical, manipulative a**hole.” She also directed a “f** you” at the prime minister.

Zimmerman was hired in March of this year as U.S. director for the anti-Israel NGO B’Tselem. B’Tselem routinely accuses Israel of “apartheid” and “war crimes.”