Where does Bernie Sanders, the Jewish candidate for president, stand on Israel?

[King_David]

Bernie Sanders’ best friend is a Zionist who teaches Jewish philosophy, he had a formative experience on a kibbutz and “Saturday Night Live” dubbed him the “old Jew.”

Still, Sanders can’t get away from the inevitable “But where is he on Israel?” question, especially now that the Democratic presidential contender, an Independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, has pulled ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hampshire, the first primary state.

“Do you view yourself as a Zionist?” the left-leaning online magazine Vox asked Sanders in a July 28 interview.

It’s a funny question for Sanders, who if there were an “out and proud” metric for Jews in politics would score high.

Sanders, 73, is best friends with Richard Sugarman, a professor of Jewish philosophy at the University of Vermont who champions Zionism to his left-leaning students. His other best friend – and former chief of staff – is Huck Gutman, a University of Vermont professor of literature who is a passionate aficionado of the poetry of Yehuda Amichai.


http://m.jpost.com/Diaspora/Where-does-Bernie-Sanders-the-Jewish-candidate-for-president-stand-on-Israel-412448#article=6017MTE3MTA0NjIxODRGMDJDNUQ3OUNGMjNBMjAzNjJCRjA=

[HassleCat]

1. A good friend of mine

My neighbors are passionate right wingers. They stay glued to Fox News all day. They wish somebody would assassinate Obama. They subscribe to several of the popular conspiracy theories. They believe they can declare themselves sovereign citizens, not pay taxes, drive without a driver's license, etc. But I like them. I bake some muffins and go have coffee with them. I bring treats for their dogs. (I don't know the political leanings of the dogs.) Since these people are my friends, and I hang out with them, I must share their political ideology, right? Because that's the logic of this post.

[King_David]

2. Try read the full article , Bernies Support of the Jewish State is flawless.

As one would expect it to be for someone seeking the Democratic nomination to be president.

[HassleCat]

4. Flawless?

I read the linked article from the Jerusalem Post. His position appears to be different than that of other Democrats who support Israel. I imagine he takes some heat for admitting Israel sometimes mistreats its minority groups.

[King_David]

7. Actually his position on Israel is no different

From most Democratic Party supporting American Jews - 80% of whom are Democrats.

His position is no different - sorry

[geek tragedy]

10. He's much different than Schumer, Lowey, Israel and Engel.

He has openly expressed his disdain for Netanyahu, deplores Israel's abuse of the Palestinians, and supports the JCPOA.

Unlike those just mentioned.

[King_David]

14. His views on Israel are certainly nowhere near the most vocal 20 anti Israel

DUrs who post here .

And very much like the pro Israel posters here.

Naturally because he always had been always will be a supporter of the Jewish state like most / All Democratic Party reps and candidates.

You would never see his campaign linking to this part of DU because of some of the vitriol against Israel posted - it's just not Democratic Party principle and certainly not Bernies either.

[haikugal]

26. I can be a supporter of the State of Israel and criticize their policy.

The two are not mutually exclusive any more than I'd be anti-American if I criticize our policy.

There is much to criticize with their current leadership.

[azurnoir]

12. How many in the Democratic Party support the US financially supporting a Palestinian State?

because Bernie does

[King_David]

16. Good for him

Last edited Sat Aug 22, 2015, 01:33 PM - Edit history (1)

I'm sure it's perfectly in line with almost all Zionist Democratic Party members.

The U.S. is financially supporting the current Palestinian state.

[oberliner]

20. U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians

Since the establishment of limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the mid-1990s, the U.S. government has committed approximately $5 billion in bilateral assistance to the Palestinians, who are among the world’s largest per capita recipients of international foreign aid. Successive Administrations have requested aid for the Palestinians in apparent support of at least three major U.S. policy priorities of interest to Congress:

• Preventing terrorism against Israel from Hamas and other militant organizations.

• Fostering stability, prosperity, and self-governance in the West Bank that inclines
Palestinians toward peaceful coexistence with Israel and a “two-state solution.”

• Meeting humanitarian needs.

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22967.pdf

[King_David]

23. Exactly

[azurnoir]

11. yes except for that are you a Zionist question posed by Ezra Klein

Is Sanders a Zionist? Here’s what he told Vox’s Ezra Klein:

“A Zionist? What does that mean? Want to define what the word is? Do I think Israel has the right to exist? Yeah, I do. Do I believe that the United States should be playing an even-handed role in terms of its dealings with the Palestinian community in Israel? Absolutely I do.

“Again, I think that you have volatile regions in the world, the Middle East is one of them, and the United States has got to work with other countries around the world to fight for Israel’s security and existence at the same time as we fight for a Palestinian state where the people in that country can enjoy a decent standard of living, which is certainly not the case right now. My long-term hope is that instead of pouring so much military aid into Israel, into Egypt, we can provide more economic aid to help improve the standard of living of the people in that area.”


http://www.jta.org/2015/08/17/news-opinion/politics/where-does-bernie-sanders-the-jewish-candidate-for-president-stand-on-israel

[King_David]

13. It's all in the article

And so ?

[King_David]

21. Why do you keep bringing that up when you know fully well due to recent repugnant events he has to

Tread very carefully on the subject?

The antisemitic extreme left have been hounding him on the "dual loyalty " canard.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12231811

Bernie has to be very careful not to fuel those antisemitic ( antizionist) canards.

So I'm not sure why your going on and on about his answer......when everybody knows he has to answer such questions very carefully.

[elleng]

15. 'Flawless' doesn't get THIS Brooklyn Jew's support for Senator Sanders.

[King_David]

17. Thanks for sharing

Think that's the pervasive or majority or even substantial minority Brooklyn Jewish thought on the matter?

[elleng]

18. Haven't been 'home' for a while, so 'no comment.'

[99th_Monkey]

3. Bernie supports the Iran Nuke Treaty

He supports peace in the ME.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/09/bernie-sanders-defends-iran-nuclear-deal/

[Little Tich]

5. I trust Bernie Sanders much more than I trust HRC.

Wherever Bernie Sanders stands on Israel, I believe his stance will be based on his moral convictions like everything else.

[Agnosticsherbet]

6. From Juan Cole

The Middle East Policy of President Bernie Sanders

Sanders supported the Israeli attack on Gaza last summer but thought the Israeli army was a little heavy-handed and ‘over-reacted’ with some of its actions like bombing schools being used as civilian shelters. (There were no weapons at these schools). Sanders excused Israeli actions against Gaza civilian populations on the grounds that missiles were being fired from Gaza into Israel from populated centers. The Israeli campaign killed around 2000 Palestinians, most of them non-combatants. Another 1400 or so were killed in 2008-2009, and there have been many other Israeli bombings and other military actions against Palestinians in Gaza. Gaza rockets, most of them tiny high school science projects, mostly land uselessly in the desert, so that totaling them up into the thousands is a mere propaganda point. Over the past decade, they have killed 44 Israelis. The launching of the rockets by Hamas is a war crime, and the majority of those killed have been innocent non-combatants. But the disproportionate use of force is also a violation of international law, and a thousand to one kill ratio suggests disproportion. Sanders’ Israel policy seems likely to tilt more toward Tel Aviv than that of Obama, though Sanders did boycott the address of PM Binyamin Netanyahu to Congress in March.

[Agnosticsherbet]

8. some of his votes in support of Israel.

S. Res. 138: calling on the United Nations to rescind the Goldstone report, formally known as the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which accused the Israeli government of targeting Palestinian civilians.S. Res. 185: reaffirming the commitment of the US to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and calling for a US veto of any UN resolution on Palestinian statehood without a settlement.
S. Con. Res. 23: supporting Israel in maintaining defensible borders, and against Israel returning to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967

[King_David]

19. He seems to be a solid supporter of Israel

[6chars]

9. He doesn't fetishize Israel

He doesn't act as if it is impossibly perfect, he doesn't demonize it. And he doesn't do some of the former and offset it with some of the latter or vice versa.

[King_David]

22. Kick

[King_David]

24. Kick

[King_David]

25. kick