Dershowitz: Nominating Sanders as Democratic candidate would boost BDS
"He (Sanders) called Netanyahu a racist, but he did not address comments by Ilhan Omar," Dershowitz said.
By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDSAlan Dershowitz spoke at a meeting of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on February 27, 2020.(photo credit: JERUSALEM CENTER FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
Electing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as the Democratic Party's candidate in the upcoming presidential elections would give momentum to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, renowned US attorney Alan Dershowitz has said.Speaking at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dershowitz, who has previously stated that he is a member of the Democratic Party, said that he would not vote for the party if it put Sanders up as it's nominee. He added that, in his estimation, many American Jews would likewise fail to back the party, although he noted that he still expected more than half to do so."He (Sanders) called Netanyahu a racist, but he did not address comments by Ilhan Omar," he said, referring to the Democratic Representative for Minnesota, who has come under sustained criticism over antisemitic comments.The BDS movement calls for economic sanctions against Israel to bring pressure on the country over the conflict with the Palestinians, but has been decried as antisemitic due to its singling out of the Jewish State for criticism. In May 2019 the German parliament condemned the movement, voting in favor of a motion which read “The argumentation patterns and methods used by the BDS movement are antisemitic.”On Wednesday at a book launch event at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dershowitz also criticized the other Jewish candidate in the race - Michael Bloomberg - for failing to criticize Senator Sanders for his comments, and for his "lack of knowledge" on Middle Eastern issues.He also levelled further criticism of Sanders, calling him the "Corbyn of the United States," a reference to the leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, whose party is currently being investigated on charges of institutional antisemitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Sanders was "only Jewish by birth," he added.Dershowitz has previously said that he would like to see Biden take the Democratic Party nomination, telling the Dan Abrams Show last June: "I'm a strong supporter of Joe Biden. I like Joe Biden. I've liked him for a long time, and I could enthusiastically support Joe Biden [...] Over Donald Trump."The event was also attended by former Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky, who said that Trump's Deal of the Century peace plan will not succeed, not because of the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, but because of internal debates within Israel.
