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Sanders’ Challenge to Clinton and Democrats: Palestinian Lives Matter
The party currently supports a two-state solution because it serves Israel’s interests, but not because Palestinians have the right to live as free citizens of their own country.Peter Beinart May 25, 2016 3
When it comes to Israel, Bernie Sanders is already changing the Democratic Party.
In 2012, Barack Obama’s campaign chose the committee that drafted the party’s platform. On the 15-member panel, three of the four people who focused on Middle East issues espoused fairly conventional “Pro-Israel” views: former congressman Robert Wexler, then-congressman Barney Frank and Obama administration foreign policy official Colin Kahl. Wexler, Frank and Kahl certainly aren’t Likudniks. But they operate within the parameters of the Beltway consensus. Only one committee member --California Congresswoman Barbara Lee—has a history of challenging that consensus in support of Palestinian rights.
This week, the Democratic Party announced the drafting committee for 2016. Hillary Clinton’s campaign chose six members. The only one with a clear Middle East background is former State Department official Wendy Sherman. She too fits comfortably within the Washington consensus, albeit on the progressive side. So does former Congressman Howard Berman, who was among the four members chosen by Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Schultz also reappointed Congresswoman Lee.
The big shift is the Sanders appointees. In deference to the Vermont Senator’s electoral success, the party awarded him the right to choose five members of the drafting committee. Three of Sanders’ choices have a profile on Middle East issues: Congressman Keith Ellison, one of the two Muslims in Congress, Arab American Institute President James Zogby and philosopher Cornel West. Ellison and Zogby are party insiders. West is a leftist activist. But all three are impassioned advocates for the Palestinian cause. Together, they virtually ensure an effort to shift the party platform in a pro-Palestinian direction. If the Clinton campaign resists that shift, expect a fight on the convention floor.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.721404
21 replies
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...very good .
Cant wait to see how much mud is thrown at Peter Beinart when the motley crew wake up 
Oh, right. Israeli Lives Matter too, don't they? Both Israeli and Palestinian lives. A lot of people "forget" that for some reason....
This has also been the overarching theme of Israeli efforts to counter BDS and growing anti-Israeli hostility on campuses, indeed the leitmotif of Israel’s view of any and all hostility in the world. It’s all part of a sinister anti-Semitic plot, possibly masterminded by Hamas, Iran and other Jew-haters. They are poisoning the minds of naive and impressionable American youths and leading them down a path of evil. And if that is the case, there’s no need to acknowledge the influence - or the very existence, in fact - of occupation, racism, “seeds of fascism,” popular support for extrajudicial killings, endless efforts to curtail democracy and the cries of frustration and anguish that all of these spark in Israel and are broadcast from there, through social media, to the rest of the world. All of these don’t matter, because primordial antipathy to Jews rules the world.
They are poisoning the minds of naive and impressionable American youths and leading them down a path of evil. And if that is the case, there’s no need to acknowledge the influence - or the very existence, in fact - of occupation, racism, “seeds of fascism,” popular support for extrajudicial killings, endless efforts to curtail democracy and the cries of frustration and anguish that all of these spark in Israel and are broadcast from there, through social media, to the rest of the world. All of these don’t matter, because primordial antipathy to Jews rules the world. One of the eight senators who stayed away from Netanyahu’s speech was Bernie Sanders. Since then, the Vermont senator has gone on to become a presidential contender who is wildly popular among young Democratic liberals. It is possible that Sanders’ willingness to stray from the norm, to criticize Israel and Netanyahu publicly, to call for an evenhanded U.S. approach and to express unabashed sympathy with the plight of the Palestinians gave an extra push to pent up liberal frustrations that had been simmering beneath the surface all along.
Lieberman’s appointment as defense minister is bound to pour more fuel on the fire, even if one assumes, as I do, that his actions will belie his harsh and often racist words. Nonetheless, the next time someone blames anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, leftist agitprop, liberal naiveté or that all purpose whipping boy Barack Obama for the growing alienation between Israel and liberals, in America and around the world, you might want to refer them simply to this week’s headlines.
Lieberman’s appointment as defense minister is bound to pour more fuel on the fire, even if one assumes, as I do, that his actions will belie his harsh and often racist words. Nonetheless, the next time someone blames anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, leftist agitprop, liberal naiveté or that all purpose whipping boy Barack Obama for the growing alienation between Israel and liberals, in America and around the world, you might want to refer them simply to this week’s headlines.
Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.721482
Who are really the privileged ones, but like to play the victim.
Welcome to Palestine, shall I give you a tour?
Sorry, Israel isn't the victim here.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez is reportedly working together with Sanders' appointees to change platform to show more sympathy to Palestinians.
Jacob Kornbluh, Jewish Insider May 28, 2016 1:33 AM
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is moving along to satisfy the liberal wing of the Democratic Party by indicating proposed changes to the Democratic Party’s platform on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be addressed by the drafting committee ahead of the convention in Philadelphia.
According to a report by the Chicago Sun Times, one of Clinton’s appointees to the Democratic Party’s platform committee, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), is brewing with two of Bernie Sanders’ appointees, Cornel West and James Zogby, to show more sympathy to the Palestinian side of the conflict.
In an interview with the Chicago publication, Gutierrez stressed that there could be room in the platform for language that “elaborates more clearly the wishes, the desires, the aspirations of the Palestinian people and their hope for justice and for peace and equality.”
“Absolutely, I think we can do more,” he said.
The report also notes that Gutierrez departed on Thursday for a long-planned trip to cities in the West Bank and Jerusalem, where he will meet with Palestinian Authority officials, Palestinian members of the Israeli Knesset and Palestinian students and businessmen. The trip is hosted by the American Global Institute, funded by MIFTAH, a pro-Palestinian organization.
“I am going to go with an open mind, to listen and to discuss the issues. You should not make any pre-judgment about what Luis Gutierrez is going to do on the platform committee,” he said moments before departing.
Sanders, who started in March to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after receiving the endorsement of prominent pro-Palestinian activists, indicated in a statement to the New York Times that he would seek “consensus” on the party’s policy towards Israel. “I have always and will always be 100 percent supportive of Israel’s right to exist and live in peace and security,” the Democratic presidential hopeful wrote in a statement. “I also believe that lasting peace in the region will not occur without fair and respectful treatment of the Palestinian people. I believe that most Democrats agree with that position and that a strong consensus will be achieved at the Democratic National Convention.”
Jewish Democratic party leaders conceded that changes are forthcoming, pointing to recent polls that show a shift in liberal voters’ attitude towards Israel. But in private conversations, some are perplexed that Sanders decided to create buzz about an issue that he never campaigned on until recently.
Source: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.721875
Jacob Kornbluh, Jewish Insider May 28, 2016 1:33 AM
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is moving along to satisfy the liberal wing of the Democratic Party by indicating proposed changes to the Democratic Party’s platform on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be addressed by the drafting committee ahead of the convention in Philadelphia.
According to a report by the Chicago Sun Times, one of Clinton’s appointees to the Democratic Party’s platform committee, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), is brewing with two of Bernie Sanders’ appointees, Cornel West and James Zogby, to show more sympathy to the Palestinian side of the conflict.
In an interview with the Chicago publication, Gutierrez stressed that there could be room in the platform for language that “elaborates more clearly the wishes, the desires, the aspirations of the Palestinian people and their hope for justice and for peace and equality.”
“Absolutely, I think we can do more,” he said.
The report also notes that Gutierrez departed on Thursday for a long-planned trip to cities in the West Bank and Jerusalem, where he will meet with Palestinian Authority officials, Palestinian members of the Israeli Knesset and Palestinian students and businessmen. The trip is hosted by the American Global Institute, funded by MIFTAH, a pro-Palestinian organization.
“I am going to go with an open mind, to listen and to discuss the issues. You should not make any pre-judgment about what Luis Gutierrez is going to do on the platform committee,” he said moments before departing.
Sanders, who started in March to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after receiving the endorsement of prominent pro-Palestinian activists, indicated in a statement to the New York Times that he would seek “consensus” on the party’s policy towards Israel. “I have always and will always be 100 percent supportive of Israel’s right to exist and live in peace and security,” the Democratic presidential hopeful wrote in a statement. “I also believe that lasting peace in the region will not occur without fair and respectful treatment of the Palestinian people. I believe that most Democrats agree with that position and that a strong consensus will be achieved at the Democratic National Convention.”
Jewish Democratic party leaders conceded that changes are forthcoming, pointing to recent polls that show a shift in liberal voters’ attitude towards Israel. But in private conversations, some are perplexed that Sanders decided to create buzz about an issue that he never campaigned on until recently.
Source: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.721875