Editorial: Bernie Sanders is making a mistake. He should speak at AIPAC.

[George II]

By Jodi Rudoren

I’m going to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington next week, and Senator Bernie Sanders should too.

I’m not going because I agree with everything AIPAC says or does — of course not. I’m going because it’s the largest annual gathering of American Jews, a group that Sanders says he is proud to be part of. I’m going because it’s 18,000 people who care about a place I care about, a place Sanders lived for awhile on a kibbutz and says he — like me — wants to make better.

Even more basic than that is that it’s a huge gathering of people who are seriously engaged in politics and policy, thousands and thousands of people paying thousands of dollars and taking off from their jobs and lives to show up and be counted and talk about what’s important to them. How does any serious candidate for president of the United States just blow that off?

Actually, what Sanders did on Monday is worse than that. He could have said he couldn’t go to AIPAC because of Super Tuesday — he has to be in the states casting critical primary ballots on March 3, but he looks forward to speaking at the conference next year. Instead he said he was boycotting out of concern “about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian human rights.”

More:
https://forward.com/opinion/440387/editorial-bernie-sanders-is-making-a-mistake-he-should-speak-at-aipac/

[msongs]

1. some in congress might oppose basic Palaestinian human rights but he goes THERE often enuff

[relayerbob]

2. Well

While I understand and support his position, he would probably be better off making that position clear to AIPAC and try to get some movement on getting Palestinian rights. I'm not sure a boycott will send any message at all, much less the one he wants it to be.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. I'm glad he's avoiding it

Link to tweet

"

Link to tweet

[guillaumeb]

4. His reasoning is understandable.

Many share it to one degree or another.

[still_one]

5. As I said in a previos post, no matter how one feel about AIPAC, Sanders says he is refusing to go

because he says "it is a platform for bigotry", however, I find it ironic that he had no problem speaking at Liberty University

Some are saying he is courageous for doing this. I beg to disagree. What would have been courageous is if he went to speak before them, and tell them why their agenda is wrong

Perhaps there is a reason according to the PEW research why only 11% of American Jews support him

[George II]

7. When he spoke at Liberty University, founded by blatantly anti-Semitic* Jerry Falwell Sr.....

It was a Jewish High Holy Day.

*Jerry Falwell once said that God doesn't listen to the prayers of Jews!! That's the guy whose university at which Sanders chose to speak on a Jewish High Holy Day.

[still_one]

8. Pretty hypocritical in my book

[Gothmog]

6. 347 rabbis sign letter rejecting Bernie Sanders' 'outrageous comments'

Link to tweet

WASHINGTON – Following Sen. Bernie Sanders’s decision to skip the AIPAC Policy Conference in March, a group of 347 rabbis has signed an open letter to the Democratic front-runner, saying they support AIPAC’s role in advancing the US-Israel relationship and reject his “outrageous comments.”

Sanders claimed on Saturday that the organization gives a platform “for leaders who express bigotry.”

AIPAC responded in a statement, saying that the Vermont senator’s comments were “truly shameful” and were considered an “odious attack on this mainstream, bipartisan American political event.”

This was an unusual reaction from a group that avoids public disputes with political leaders.

“AIPAC’s mission is one that we and our congregants care deeply about,” the rabbis wrote in their letter. “Through AIPAC, we lobby Congress to support our democratic ally and strengthen the long-standing bipartisan support for a partnership that benefits both nations.

[Moderateguy]

9. This is one stance of Sanders I totally agree with 100%