Bernie Sanders, AIPAC and his dangerous obsession with Israel
While Sanders criticizes the Israeli government any chance he gets, rarely will you hear him criticize the PA and Hamas for their human rights abuses.
By FRED MENACHEMDemocratic US presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at his New Hampshire primary night rally in Manchester, NH, US(photo credit: REUTERS)
Most of us in the pro-Israel community have probably heard about Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders and his recent accusations that he’s lobbed at AIPAC, the bipartisan organization that promotes the importance of the US-Israel relationship.He claims the American Israel Public Affairs Committee provides a platform “for leaders who express bigotry” because they regularly invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he often criticizes. But what he fails to mention is that AIPAC also regularly invites the prime minister’s rivals to its conferences as well. These dangerous statements are spreading a false narrative about an organization for which, on March 1, 18,000 strong will participate in a conference made up of one of the most-diverse groups of people from Democrats to Republicans, Jews and Christians, African-Americans and Hispanics, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, among others.Oddly enough, while he refuses to speak at the upcoming AIPAC conference, he had absolutely no problem attending and speaking at last years Islamic Society of North America’s convention, an organization where the infamous anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour called the Israelis “oppressors” and claimed it is dangerous for the Palestinian cause to humanize Israel or Israelis, as if the conflict does not have two sides and Israelis no longer deserve a voice. Additionally, when his supporters attempt to create a false narrative that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of brown vs white, he fails to mention that more than 61% of Israelis are full or partial Mizrahi Jews (from Muslim and North African countries), which by any standards would be considered people of color. He fans the flames by threatening Israel – the most important strategic partner in the Middle East and an alliance that impacts US national security – that aid, which benefits both nations, could be contingent on compliance with US foreign policy. In fact, if it were up to Sanders, as Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the United Nations, once said, he wants “to take money we (US) give to Israel to defend itself from terrorists and give it to Gaza, which is run by terrorists.”For full transparency, I’m an Israeli and US citizen, as well as an ardent Zionist. While I certainly do not believe in denying anyone the right to criticize the Israeli government as long as it does not cross a line of antisemitism, that is not conducive to finding a solution. In fact many of the attendees of the upcoming AIPAC conference openly express their disagreements with the current Israeli government. I don’t claim that Israel is perfect and the government has certainly made its share of mistakes and I don’t deny that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own, one that doesn’t put the State of Israel in jeopardy or at risk of violent attacks or extermination.But unfortunately and sadly, the Palestinian people have long been pawns abused by their own governments, especially Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. But while Sanders criticizes the Israeli government any chance he gets, rarely will you hear him criticize the PA and Hamas for their human rights abuses and the reign of fire that they inflict on their own people, where they use innocent men, women and children as human shields and force Palestinians to use their houses for smuggling arms and rocket attacks so when Israel strikes back to defend herself, it falsely creates negative public opinion against Israel. How about atrocities against women? For example, honor killings, where females are murdered for committing adultery or where they reward rapists for marrying their victims by not prosecuting them. How about the LGBTQ community who have to live in secrecy because they are regularly arrested and tortured. And I’ve never heard Sanders mention when the government continuously pays a terrorists family a stipend for killing Jews.So, I ask you, who is really the oppressor? Is it Israel, who does whatever it takes to defend themselves against extermination, or is it the Palestinian leaders who for too long have systematically persecuted their own people and why does Sanders refuse to speak up?As Sanders becomes the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, we can not brush him off. We need to take him seriously, his dangerous rhetoric is not only isolated to Israel but as President Donald Trump seems to idolize brutal dictators on the Right like President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Sanders is a guy who consistently praises brutal left-wing dictators like the late Fidel Castro of Cuba and other murderers like Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. So for those who are concerned about the upcoming US election and Trump being a danger to America and the world – why is Bernie Sanders any different? We are just looking at two different sides of the same coin and that’s a hard pill to swallow.The writer is a political commentator who works in the cybersecurity industry. He tweets @FredMenachem.
