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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference is in Washington, March 20-22, 2016. All presidential candidates are invited. Hillary Clinton is going.
Bernie Sanders could use this opportunity to be a truth-teller to AIPAC. When President Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice spoke at AIPAC last year, she told them things that they didn’t want to hear: that their demands that Iran cease all enrichment of uranium were unrealistic, and that their demands that the US walk away from negotiations with Iran and increase sanctions on Iran instead were unrealistic. AIPAC didn’t like it, but Susan Rice didn’t let that stop her from telling the truth.
J Street and Americans for Peace Now have opposed AIPAC’s campaign to legitimize Israeli settlements in the West Bank. If J Street can do it, Bernie Sanders can do it too. Bernie has called for a “level playing field” in US policy towards Israel and the Palestinians, and has called for Israel to “end the blockade of Gaza, and cease developing settlements on Palestinian land.”
Calling for a “level playing field” in US policy towards Israel and the Palestinians is a completely reasonable thing for Bernie to say:
Rabbi Steve Gutow, former president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and former head of the National Jewish Democratic Council, countered that there is nothing wrong with being “even-handed” and suggested the remarks would not hurt Sanders with Jewish voters.
“To say that you favor Israel over the Palestinians (would be) an odd way to move the parties toward peace,” Gutow said, noting that Sanders has made clear many times his support for Israel.
If you agree that Bernie should use this opportunity to be a truth-teller to AIPAC, you can urge him to do so here.
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