Several Democratic presidential contenders on Tuesday vowed to switch gears from Donald Trump’s embrace of Israel, pledging they would press for a peace settlement that leads to a Palestinian state.
Six months after Democratic candidates shunned the annual conference of AIPAC, the historic pro-Israel lobby, seven candidates made an appearance in the same Washington convention centre before J Street, a left-leaning group that says it is more in tune with American Jews.
Bernie Sanders, who rarely talks about his Jewish faith, explained how the murder of much of his father’s family in the Holocaust shaped his progressive views. “If there is any people on earth who understands the danger of racism and white nationalism, it is certainly the Jewish people,” he said to applause.
Senator Sanders, who would be the first Jewish president, accused Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fomenting division.
“Let me underline this because it will be misunderstood – it is not anti-Semitism to say that the Netanyahu government has been racist. It is a fact,” he said.
“We demand that the Israeli government sit down with the Palestinian people and negotiate an agreement that works for all parties.”
Senator Sanders, who would be the first Jewish president, accused Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fomenting division.
“Let me underline this because it will be misunderstood – it is not anti-Semitism to say that the Netanyahu government has been racist. It is a fact,” he said.
“We demand that the Israeli government sit down with the Palestinian people and negotiate an agreement that works for all parties.”
His message to Israel would be, “If you want military aid, you are going to have to fundamentally change your relationship” with the Palestinians. He called for some of the $US3.8bn in annual military assistance to be turned into humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip in a “radical intercession” for the territory that has been under a blockade since it elected the Islamist movement Hamas in 2007.
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).