April 27, 2021 at 12:12 pm
At a recent J Street Conference online, US Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren broke yet another political taboo when they expressed willingness to leverage US military aid as a way of putting pressure on Israel to respect Palestinian human rights. Sanders believes that the US must be willing to bring real pressure to bear, including restricting US aid, in response to moves by either side that undermine the chances for peace. Warren, meanwhile, showed a willingness to restrict military aid as a tool to push Israel to adjust course .
Bernie Sanders is a true friend of Palestine – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]
Print this article (Graeme Jennings / Washington Examiner)
The first time Jeff Miller showed up for work as a 17-year-old, $5-an-hour intern for the Kern County Republican Party, one of his supervisors, the district field representative for high-powered California congressman Bill Thomas, offered him a helpful fashion tip for his first job in politics. Dump whatever hideous-colored dress shirt you’re wearing, the 26-year-old Kevin McCarthy told Miller, gently. From now on, stick to solid white or solid blue.
Thirty years later, Miller is a connected Washington lobbyist with his own boutique firm, advising some of the most recognizable corporate brands in the United States and a hard-charging Republican fundraiser and all-around GOP utility player. In the 2020 election cycle, Miller, on a strictly volunteer basis, bundled more than $11.2 million for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and raised in excess of $100 million, combined, for the former president’s 202
Sanders believes that the US “must be willing to bring real pressure to bear, including restricting US aid, in response to moves by either side that undermine the chances for peace,” while Warren showed a willingness to restrict military aid as a “tool” to push Israel to “adjust course.”
Generally, Sanders’s increasingly pro-Palestinian stances are more progressive than those of Warren, although both are still hovering within the mainstream Democratic discourse willingness to criticise Israel as long as that criticism is coupled with equal, if not even more pointed, criticism of the Palestinians.
Seraj Assi explained this dichotomy in an article published in Jacobin Magazine: “Sanders’s stance on Israel-Palestine could undoubtedly be more progressive. He has consistently voted in favour of US military aid to Israel, which subsidises occupation, settlement expansion and systematic violence against Palestinians. He still opposes the BDS (Boycott, Div
Six years ago, the Jewish American community was evenly divided over a key issue that would help define President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy. A survey conducted by the Jewish Journal in July 2015 showed that 49% of American Jews supported the nuclear deal with Iran while 31% were opposed. The debate tore apart even liberal congregations.
As the U.S. entered its third round of indirect talks with Iran on Monday, American Jews - and mainstream Jewish groups - seem less animated by the prospects of returning to the 2015 deal.
That’s not to suggest that American Jews won’t have something to say if an agreement is reached between Washington and Tehran about returning to compliance with the international accord in return for sanctions relief. Israel’s official position is still unclear, given the political deadlock there, and major Jewish groups have yet to indicate how they would react to the restoration of a key Obama foreign policy initiative that Biden has vowed to
Grassroots activism behind America’s pro-Palestine shift
Ramzy Baroud
April 27, 2021 22:32
Democrat Cori Bush celebrates after unseating incumbent Congressman Rep. William Lacy Clay, in St Louis, Missouri, U.S. Aug. 5, 2020. (Reuters)
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At last week’s virtual J Street conference, US Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren broke a political taboo when they expressed a willingness to leverage US military aid as a way of pressuring Israel to respect Palestinians’ human rights. Sanders said that the US “must be willing to bring real pressure to bear, including restricting US aid, in response to moves by either side that undermine the chances for peace,” while Warren showed a willingness to restrict military aid as a “tool” to push Israel to “adjust course.”