Bernie Sanders stands up to Israel: American writer

Leading US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is standing up to Israel despite the fact that it is almost impossible to get a Democratic or Republican “nomination without kowtowing before Israel at the AIPAC convention,” according to American writer and former professor E Michael Jones.

News ID: 449415

Date: 04 March 2020 - 12:00

RNA - Israel’s envoy to the United Nations on Sunday attacked Sanders as an "ignorant fool" after the Vermont senator refused to attend this year’s annual conference of the pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Sanders announced last week he would skip AIPAC’s annual policy conference, saying the pro-Israel lobby group provides a platform for “leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."

Sanders is the second Democratic presidential candidate to say he will not be attending the AIPAC conference, which will take place in Washington on March 1-4. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren also said earlier this month that she would not attend.

Jones said, “Bernie Sanders said that he was not going to attend the AIPAC convention. And the Israeli ambassador to United States Danny Danon then attacked Sanders saying that AIPAC didn't want to become a convention and he wasn't welcome in Israel.”

“This is part of the ritual that politicians go through here every four years. And it is virtually impossible to get a nomination without kowtowing before Israel at the AIPAC convention. There is a huge anti-Israel movement here in the United States that virtually no one addresses, no politician addresses. The fact that Bernie Sanders is addressing it is significant,” he added.

“What I think is happening now is that you simply cannot get a certain segment of the population unless you distance yourself from Israel. Now what we saw in the last election was Donald Trump doing the same thing. Donald Trump went and refused to speak at AIPAC that he went and spoke at AIPAC that he said, 'Don't give me your money'. It was back and forth. But he gave the impression that he was going to stand up to Israel, because his platform was 'America first,’ and the essence of 'America first' is not allowing foreign powers determine the foreign policy of the United States of America. All of that change that says he got into office,” he continued.

“That's the problem here. So the difference between the campaign and the promises that get made then, and what happens once you get into office, one of the crucial factors in American politics, the will of the people rarely, if ever gets translated into policy. The oligarchs determine policy after someone gets elected, which gives him the aura of popular support,” he concluded.

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