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Bernie Sanders Is the First Presidential Candidate to Show Sympathy for Palestinians
http://mic.com/articles/140993/bernie-sanders-is-the-first-presidential-candidate-to-show-sympathy-for-palestiniansBernie Sanders sparred with Hillary Clinton in Thursday night's Democratic primary debate on the subject of Israel and Palestine. Couching his message in his "100%" support for Israel, Sanders said the Palestinians needed to be treated with compassion and "dignity" for any progress to be made — and that America plays a big role in that. Clinton did not appear to agree.
"As somebody who is 100% pro-Israel, in the long run, and this is not going to be easy ... if we are ever going to bring peace to that region — which has seen so much hatred and so much war — we are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity," Sanders, who is himself Jewish and has spent prolonged periods of time in Israel, told the audience.
He was responding to moderator Wolf Blitzer's question of whether or not Israel's 2014 Gaza offensive was disproportionate in its retaliation. Sanders replied in the affirmative, a position he's made known in the past.
"Israel was subjected to terrorist attacks (and) has every right in the world to destroy terrorism," the Vermont senator said. "But we had in the Gaza area — not a very large area — some 10,000 civilians who were wounded and some 1,500 who were killed. Now if you're asking me ... 'Was that a disproportionate attack?' The answer is I believe it was."
"As somebody who is 100% pro-Israel, in the long run, and this is not going to be easy ... if we are ever going to bring peace to that region — which has seen so much hatred and so much war — we are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity," Sanders, who is himself Jewish and has spent prolonged periods of time in Israel, told the audience.
He was responding to moderator Wolf Blitzer's question of whether or not Israel's 2014 Gaza offensive was disproportionate in its retaliation. Sanders replied in the affirmative, a position he's made known in the past.
"Israel was subjected to terrorist attacks (and) has every right in the world to destroy terrorism," the Vermont senator said. "But we had in the Gaza area — not a very large area — some 10,000 civilians who were wounded and some 1,500 who were killed. Now if you're asking me ... 'Was that a disproportionate attack?' The answer is I believe it was."
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This is not an easy or popular stance to take and he took it anyway. Being Jewish makes it doubly noble. I heart that man. 
Let's say Mexico decided to rain down rockets on Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California, shooting them off from civilian locations. Let's say Mexico was also smuggling their fighters across the border and using them to kill our civilians and servicemen. How long do you think it would take us start bombing those rocket locations and invading Mexico to stop attacks.
I'll answer that question for you - less than one day.
I am sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinian people. But as long as they look to Hamas for leadership and the Israelis continue to elect right wing governments, there will be no peace in the Middle East. There are idiots on both sides.