Sanders Endorses Biden
Earlier this month, Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign. This week the Vermont Senator endorsed Joe Biden. The move generated a lot of fuss, but it’s hardly surprising to anyone who follows U.S. politics. Despite being portrayed by the media as a radical hellbent on destroying the Democratic Party, Sanders always made it very clear that he’d back the nominee no matter who it ended up being. He obviously thinks beating Trump is extremely important, although his current actions will presumably not deter his critics. Back in 2016, Sanders showed up at 39 rallies (across 13 states) in support of Hillary Clinton and was still blamed for the Trump presidency by some.
Sanders made his endorsement during 36-minute video exchange with Biden. They talked about Bernie’s domestic agenda, but foreign policy wasn’t mentioned at all. There’s obviously sizable differences between the two men on many issues, including Israel. Biden has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a longtime friend, Bernie has called him a “reactionary racist.” Biden has said that conditioning military aid to the country is a “gigantic mistake”, Bernie supports the move. Biden attended the AIPAC conference via video, Bernie refused to participate and blasted the organization for its bigotry.
The National Interest reports that Sanders’s foreign policy advisors have been invited to the Biden camp. “I have great confidence that the Biden campaign will be a broad coalition,” said California Representative and Bernie campaign Ro Khanna, “As far as helping the Vice President on foreign policy, I certainly would be open to sharing my perspective.”
Will this add up to anything notable at all? Probably not, but inspiring Palestine solidarity activism ended up being a staple of this Democratic primary and there’s no signs that it’s about to subside. The real pressure (and potential progress) will come from outside the Beltway.
New York’s 12th District
A number of staunchly pro-Israel Democrats are facing primary challengers this year, but don’t expect anything to change on that front in NY-12. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (who is endorsed Democratic Majority for Israel) is facing a challenge from former Obama staffer Suraj Patel.
Patel was interviewed by Jewish Insider’s Jacob Kornbluh this week. He pledged to defend the U.S./Israel relationship and pointed out that he signed a letter opposing the BDS movement as a young man. “Long before I ever contemplated running for office — in college — I was pro-Israel,” he told Kornbluh.
“We need young people in the Democratic Party who can speak to and be proud defenders of the state of Israel, its right to exist within secure borders, and be staunch defenders of the U.S.-Israel relationship as a social justice thing,” Patel continued, “And if we don’t do that, if we don’t elevate people like me with those types of positions, we only have ourselves to blame.”
BDS Laws
There’s been a number of fantastic webinars recently. Yesterday I watched a great one put on by the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Peter Beinart (Foundation for Middle East Peace) spoke with Dima Khalidi (Palestine Legal) and Lara Friedman (Foundation for Middle East Peace) about BDS laws in the United States. If you’re looking for an overview of how the movement is being targeted legally and politically in this country, I recommend it highly. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube.
Odds & Ends
? Rep. Rashida Tlaib attended an online Passover seder with members of Detroit’s Jewish community. “As we hold this seder we center ourselves around humanity,” said the congresswoman, “We center around our incredible ancestry. And as we build up this movement, we have the strength of leaning on each other. We are going to out-work them, we are going to out-love them, and no one will feel less-than anymore.” We posted video of the event on our site.
? If you’re running through books at an amazing clip and are looking for more recommendations….we have some! We compiled another list of books to read while social distancing. Read it at the site and suggest your own in the comments.
? The good people at Jewish Currents are launching a newsletter. You can subscribe to it here.
?? Jamie Stern-Weiner has a great piece at Jacobin about COVID-19’s potentially devastating impact on Gaza.
? Jewish Voice for Peace is holding an online rally tomorrow for Palestinian Prisoners Day with an absolutely incredible lineup: Marc Lamont Hill, Ahed and Bassem Tamimi, Dareen Tartour, Mariame Kaba, Arab Marwan Barghouti, Doreen Tartour, Randa Wahbe, Brad Parker, Azadeh Shahshahani, and Lex Steppling. You can sign up to attend on their website.
Take care of one another and wash your hands,
Michael
