Covid-19 is becoming a very dire problem in Iran. The situation in Iran is compounded by the fact that the Trump administration imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran pushed by the Israel lobby. Read The Shift, a weekly politics newsletter from Michael Arria taking you to the front lines in the battle over Palestine in the United States.

We never know where pro-Israel groups – AIPAC in particular – will draw their red lines,” said James Zogby tells Mondoweiss, In ’88 when I was representing Jackson in the platform fight, they wouldn’t allow the ‘P’ word. I was told that if we raised it, ‘you will destroy the Democratic Party.’ 

The Shift is a weekly politics newsletter from Michael Arria taking you to the front…

Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden told the Israel lobby group AIPAC this week that it is “dangerous” for Israel to become “another issue that divides Democrats and Republicans.” But he warned that Israeli moves to build more settlements and annex occupied territories were threatening that divide by alienating young Americans.  

The 2020 elections pose a daunting question for Democrats – will they go with a progressive candidate or a moderate one?  In helping to decide which way to turn it could be helpful for the Democrats to consider the history of the Israeli Labor Party, which faced a similar crossroad and took a direction which led to its demise.

“In the course of six years, the NYPD’s now-disbanded and incredibly illegal surveillance program of infiltrating and spying on Muslim communities, houses of worship and student clubs, generated zero criminal leads,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad in a statement, “CAIR believes that in addition to costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, the NYPD’s illegal spying program under Bloomberg’s leadership damaged the Muslim community’s trust in law enforcement and made it difficult for the NYPD to maintain open lines of communication.”

Since former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg bought his way into the Democratic race, it’s been a little difficult to keep up with all the stories from his past that are filtering out. One issue that hasn’t got much coverage is his reaction to Israel shelling schools in 2014.

Today Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg announced they will be skipping the AIPAC conference conference, which means Michael Bloomberg is the only Democratic nominee definitely attending.

Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders was asked about the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, but still wouldn’t commit to moving it back to Tel Aviv.

Jewish activists and their supporters descended on Joe Biden’s Philadelphia campaign office this morning to demand that the presidential candidate skip American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual policy conference.