In contrast to a 2012 party platform that emphasized diplomacy with Iran, the new Democratic Party platform threatens military action and sanctions against Iran, and channels Netanyahu in saying Iran denies the Holocaust, supports Hamas, vows to eliminate Israel, and “has its fingerprints on almost every conflict in the Middle East.”
Democrats can’t oppose occupation and settlements in the Democratic platform “because Sheldon Adelson will come out against us,” Clintonites told Sanders rep James Zogby, Zogby related in Philadelphia today. He also said that Democrats support the use of boycott against Israel to end settlements overwhelmingly, by 47-14.
Something really is breaking loose with the Donald Trump nomination. He has so frightened the establishment with his refusal to hire the usual experts and his trashing of the “media elites” and his comments against NATO that in the last week a whole crowd of neocons and liberal internationalists has made the assertion that Trump is acting in Russia’s interest. And not only that but the Russians hacked the Democratic Party emails and gave them to Wikileaks to help Trump.
Donald Trump has taken heretical positions on countless issues, from a border wall to John McCain’s heroism to barring Muslim immigrants, and not backed down. Except for Israel. He said he’d be neutral on the conflict in February, but dropped that stance entirely. Such is the power of the Israel lobby.
Hillary Clinton has gained the support of major neoconservative donor Seth Klarman. Klarman’s family foundation supports rightwing Zionist groups, including the David Project and the Israel Project, and has supported several Islamophobic groups, including one that “applauded” an Oklahoma law later struck down as unconstitutional, that would have discriminated against Muslim religious practices. A Democratic Party think tank has said that the organizations Klarman supports have put out “anti-Islam messages polluting our national discourse.”
Reflecting on life after neoconservatism, Scott McConnell says he demonstrated against the Iraq war with Code Pink but that the alliance between national interest types and leftwingers may be coming apart because fears of another US war have ebbed and the two groups split over immigration and identity politics.
The Iran deal is still assailed by US hardliners, who don’t even hide their efforts: Adam Szubin, Obama’s under secretary of the treasury for Iranian sanctions, parrots Netanyahu’s claim that Iran is the biggest sponsor of terror in the world and speaks at neoconservative thinktanks without any consequences.
Last week’s Aspen Ideas Festival often seemed like a rightwing Jewish event and it reeked of entitlement. Leon Wieseltier of the Atlantic joked that eventually “there won’t be any goyim” on the Supreme Court. The Jewish and pro-Israel character of the establishment was on display, even if no one wants to talk about it.
Hillary Clinton’s deal with the devil: she thinks that by crushing the progressive wing that supports Palestinian rights, and smearing Max Blumenthal as “hateful” for his smart criticisms of Elie Wiesel, she will gain the Israel lobby and neoconservatives’ support, which is vital for a win in November.
The report is that Bernie Sanders just won a string of concessions from the Hillary Clinton camp on the 2016 party platform. Wall Street reform, banking reform, regulations on hedge funds, criminal justice reform, greater opposition to the death penalty, and let’s fight for a $15 minimum wage. Sanders is “winning some big victories,” says Greg Sargent in the Washington Post, but guess what’s not in the concessions? Where are Clinton’s redlines? You guessed it. Vox says the sticking points are Trans Pacific Partnership, stronger measures to slow global warming, and Israel Palestine.