Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday warned the “entire world is watching” Donald Trump’s response to a recent rise in anti-semitic bomb threats, Politico reports.
Sanders’ remarks come after a wave of bomb threats targeted Jewish community centers and schools. On Monday, at least 100 headstones were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. Just last week, as many as 154 headstones at a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis were destroyed.
During an address to the group J Street, Sanders noted there has been “a significant outbreak of anti-Semitism in our country” since Trump’s election, adding, “these attacks must be condemned at the highest levels of government.”
“I hope very much that President Trump and his political adviser Mr. Bannon understand that the entire world is watching, that it is imperative that their voices be loud and clear in condemning anti-Semitism,” he added.
Trump has faced significant criticism over his sluggish response to the rising tide of anti-Semitism throughout the United States. Asked about the incidents during a meeting with Israeil Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump earlier this month bragged about his electoral college victory and promised to “stop long simmering racism and every other thing that’s going on.”
Sanders called those remarks “very troubling.”
“What has always been the function of the president, is to bring us together, not divide us up,” the Vermont senator said.