Gavin Newsom regrets calling Israel ‘apartheid state’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is walking back earlier controversial remarks where he labeled Israel an “apartheid state.”

In a sit-down conversation with Politico published Tuesday, Newsom said “I do” when asked if he regretted the comments.

However, the governor still stood by the “apartheid” label, insisting he was talking about the “direction that [Israeli Prime Minster] Bibi [Netanyahu] is going” rather than the current state of Israel.

“If that direction and that vision of the far right, that Bibi is indulging, that if they see the full annexation of the West Bank, then that’s a word you may hear others use,” he said.

Newsom also tried to clear up any perception that he didn’t support Israel. When asked if he was a Zionist, the governor said: “I revere the state of Israel. I’m proud to support the state of Israel.”

But Newsom made it clear that he disliked Netanyahu and anyone opposing a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

His walk-back comes after remarks he made earlier in March during a stop on his book tour promoting his memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.”

At that event, Newsom criticized Netanyahu and stated that “others are talking about [Israel] appropriately as sort of an apartheid state.”

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