Bernie got a question on Palestine/Israel at a townhall on Sunday. A woman held up pictures of dead Palestinians as she asked him for his views on the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Bernie's response got extensive applause from the audience. He referred to the firebombing that killed a Palestinian toddler sleeping in his home in the West Bank on Friday. Bernie noted that he did not attend the speech Netanyahu gave to Congress and said the US should be "even-handed" towards Israelis and Palestinians. He also went on to say that his personal view is that the Palestinian people are "entitled to state of its own" and the "US should ensure that state has a strong economy" acknowledging that this is not the case today. He also said Israel was entitled to be secure. Video of the exchange is below.
Bernie did go on to say that he does not have a "magical" solution to the conflict and this is where the Post notes that he has been remarkably consistent in his views.
David Weigel writes in the Washington Post:
Michael Tracey, a reporter who'd been following Sanders, pointed out that he'd given the same answer every recent time when anyone asked about the Palestinians. In 2014, a town hall erupted, and Sanders found himself telling constituents to shut up, over questions about Israel and the occupation of Gaza.
Weigel goes on to note that Democrats as a whole may have moved further left than Bernie has in their views on the occupation
In 2014, when asked by the Gallup Poll about Israel's latest military intervention in Gaza, a 47-31 plurality of Democrats called it "unjustified." Sanders sided with the majority -- but as he found at the town hall in Vermont, it wasn't enough. For the time being, he's winning over audience with a succinct, limited answer about Israel. That could change if there's another flare-up before the primaries.
More below the orange podium...
Then there is the exchange at a town-hall last year, when much of the country was watching aghast as over 500 children were killed in the relentless bombing of Gaza over almost two months. Bernie did note that he thought some of the Israeli response was overdone. Then he said "on the other hand" the rocket attacks were coming from populated areas and other aspects of the Israeli view. At this point he was interrupted and heckled aggressively by members of the audience. At one point, he told one of the participants to "shut up". That exchange is below, and it was covered by the press. In retrospect, it is uncomfortably reminiscent of the Netroots Nation fracas. My take is that no one likes being interrupted, so I can understand the response once or twice, but he is a public figure and has to find a different way to handle it.
The Washington Post's take is that Bernie's views have been pretty consistent and he has used the "no magic solution" formulation for decades. When he started speaking about it publicly, he said it was a conflict that has been going for 30 years. That was about 30 years ago.
The Post makes the point that though Bernie's view on Israel is quite conventional, the base has shifted further left and demands more. The town-hall last year was emblematic. The original questioner noted that Bernie did not vote for the Senate resolution 498 which expressed support for Israel "as it defends itself against unprovoked rocket attacks". That measure passed by unanimous consent and only 17 other senators chose not to vote affirmatively for it (Diane Feinstein and Elizabeth Warren were among them). Chuck Schumer co-sponsored the resolution.
I disagree somewhat with the Post. I think Bernie's phrasing and responses this week were slightly different from last year, but that's partly because last year's bombing of Gaza is in the background. But more importantly, I also do not think Bernie's view is entirely conventional, at least when it comes to American politicians.
Last year, he called the Gaza attack "disproportionate" and "completely unacceptable". You can count on one hand the number of senators who used those words, the vast majority were climbing over each other to repeat Likud talking points about "right to defend itself" etc. as hundreds of children were being killed in their homes with bombs made and delivered to the Israelis by us. He also said this at the time:
"there are some colleagues in the Congress who really have a mind for endless war. I do not want to see an endless war in the Middle East."
He called for an end to the blockade of Gaza last year in his official statement (which I can't find a good link to right now). Very few other American politicians have done that (HRC asked for it to be
eased as SoS).
Juan Cole disagrees and thinks Bernie is very conventional on Israel.
Sanders avoids somewhat the topic of Israel. But as I noted, some of his positions place him in a small minority among US politicians, and then there's one other thing. Two people he's reasonably close to have staked out positions that are more pro-Palestinian than we have heard in recent memory from any American elected to national office.
The first is Noam Chomsky, who simply cannot be compared with anyone else on this issue. He was 30 years ahead (Fateful Triangle was published in 1982) in his thinking on the politics and history of the Israeli occupation, as with many other things. Interestingly, both Bernie and Chomsky spent some time right after college as kibbutzniks in Israel. Chomsky went in 1953 with the explicit goal of finding a community working on Arab-Jewish harmony, Bernie reportedly in 1963. I'd say Bernie is personally disillusioned by Israel's current trajectory. Chomsky, famously, was disillusioned decades ago.
Then there's Bernie's brother Larry, who lives in the UK and ran for Parliament on the Green Party ticket. He called for a boycott of Israel (the UK Green Party supports BDS). He's said about Bernie "We have pretty much the same political views on all the main issues.”
Overall, I think Bernie's probably more honest about Israel than most others and he's likely to have far more latitude when dealing with Israelis than other (read non-Jewish) presidents might have.
In June 2011, the Senate passed resolution 185 (by unanimous consent) that threatened to withold aid and opposed Palestinian statehood outside of bilateral discussions involving Israel. Bernie was not among the 90 senators who co-sponsored the resolution.
Bernie was also the first senator to say he would not attend Neyanyahu's speech to Congress (interview on that below):
David Weigel in WaPo again:
A cynic might ask if Sanders has honed his patter since then. The truth is that he's been saying some of the same things for decades. A 1988 Sanders roundtable, recorded when he was mayor of Burlington, Vt. and trying to win a race for Congress, found him trying to calm the same waters he'd be swimming 27 years later.
On Sander's Senate website, you can find the
following statement on Israel and Gaza (my emphasis):
Sen. Sanders is deeply troubled by the outbreak of violence in Gaza. It is extraordinarily depressing that year after year, decade after decade, the wars and killing continue without any apparent progress toward the creation of a permanent peace. While the summer of 2014 was a particularly contentious time in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Sen. Sanders’ hope is that the United States will, in the future, help play a leading role in creating a permanent two-state solution. To achieve that outcome the U.S. must work with the international community to support a settlement that respects the legitimate claims and grievances of both sides, lifts the blockade of Gaza, resolves the borders of the West Bank, and allows both the Israeli and Palestinian people to live in peace.
The bottom line is that Israel must have the right to exist in peace and security, just as the Palestinians must have the right to a homeland in which they and they alone control their political system and their economy.
Sanders believes the Israeli attacks that killed hundreds of innocent people – including many women and children – in bombings of civilian neighborhoods and UN controlled schools, hospitals, and refugee camps were disproportionate, and the widespread killing of civilians is completely unacceptable. Israel's actions took an enormous human toll, and appeared to strengthen support for Hamas and may well be sowing the seeds for even more hatred, war and destruction in future years.
The U.S. can and must play a more constructive role in promoting diplomatic efforts to achieve a lasting peace in Gaza. Sen. Sanders believes the ceasefire agreement that was reached is an important step in the right direction. He believes strict adherence, by all sides, to the tenets of international humanitarian law is necessary in order to avoid the escalation of this conflict.
And here finally is a clip from 1988, of Bernie discussing I/P.