Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders was visibly irritated on Wednesday when longtime NPR host Diane Rehm asserted he has "dual citizenship with Israel."
While the Vermont senator is Jewish and has spent time in Israel in the past, he made abundantly clear that he did not hold citizenship to the Jewish state.
“No, I do not have dual citizenship with Israel," Sanders stressed. "I’m an American. I don’t know where that question came from. I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions. No, I’m an American citizen, period."
Rehm responded by blaming the mistake on the misconception that Sanders was on a radical pro-Palestinian's list of American politicians with supposed Israeli citizenship.
“That’s some of the nonsense that goes on in the Internet," Sanders said angrily. “But that is absolutely not true.”
Sanders then grew even more fired up, emphasizing his Polish immigrant father as basis for his Americanness.
“You know, my dad came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket. He loved this country. I am, you know, I got offended a little bit by that comment, and I know it’s been on the Internet."
"I am obviously an American citizen and I do not have any dual citizenship," he stressed again.
The liberal politician recently made other Israel-related headlines when he became the first senator to announce he would not be attending Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress in March.
However, he claimed his objection was not so much what Netanyahu had to say but that US President Barack Obama hadn't been "consulted."