Bernie Sanders Looks to J-Street on Foreign Policy

[ericson00]

Last edited Sun Feb 7, 2016, 10:01 PM - Edit history (1)

One of the big reasons I'm against Bernie Sanders is that his foreign policy ideas come from J-Street, a group that claims it is somehow "pro-Israel" despite the obvious fact that its not.

We've talked ... to the people on J Street to get a broad perspective of the Middle East.
J Street is a liberal Jewish-American lobbying group that has met criticism from Republicans and some Democrats for being too critical of Israeli policies.

I'm not a fan of all of Israel's policies, but J-Street is just too far out of the mainstream of both American-Jews and American gentiles:

J Street -- the lobby group that claims to be "pro-Israel" and "pro-peace" -- is anything but "open" to centrist views that are critical of its policies. It has invited several prominent anti-Israel speakers to address its national conference, including Saeb Erekat, one of the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiators, who has repeatedly accused Israel of war crimes, and committing massacres in the West Bank

...

To those on the hard left, it offers anti-Israel and pro-BDS speakers, support for the mendacious Goldstone Report, and opposition to keeping the military option on the table as a last resort in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

To the soft left, it focuses on its opposition to Israeli settlements and its support for a two-state solution -- positions with which I and many supporters of Israel agree. But it hides its controversial, hard left positions that endanger Israel's security -- positions with which most supporters of Israel disagree. It also hides the financial support it has received from anti-Zionists such as George Soros, as well as the anti-Zionist statements made by some of its founders and activists.

The mainstream of America supports Israel in a manner J-Street obvious does not, and J-Street in reality is not "pro-Israel." Any candidate who gets his ideas from them is disqualified from being President.
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[stonecutter357]

1. J-Street !

[thereismore]

2. I don't really care about Zionism. nt

[mikehiggins]

3. Jeeze, that is pathetic

Sanders is willing to talk to Russia and Iran and just about anybody the US has to be concerned about. J-Street are a group of panderers and lobbyists but your "complaint" sounds like nobody knows that. Better to get information from them, like Sanders is claiming to, than money like the rest of the Washington politicians do.

Information can be useful to the rest of us.

[FloridaBlues]

5. Heard that too on MTP today

To me his entire statements on how he gets foreign policy was totally pathetic like it was secondary to what he needs to focus on if president . Maybe he needs sleep and the campigninf is getting to him.

[Fawke Em]

4. LOL. What trash.

Bernie Sanders: ‘I’m not a great fan’ of Benjamin Netanyahu

[DanTex]

6. J-Street is a great group. I have disagreements with Bernie, but this is definitely not one of them.

The unfortunate reality is, like many other things, America's support for Israel's borderline criminal policies towards Palestine is not going to change anytime soon, so in practice it's a non-issue. Nevertheless, Bernie should be lauded for standing with J-Street.

[Jefferson23]

7. What complete nonsense. J Street is AIPAC light. Bernie is not going to do anything

Last edited Sun Feb 7, 2016, 10:55 PM - Edit history (1)

radical regarding Israel.

This OP is complete horse shit and if Clinton or her surrogates
go down this road, good luck.

[DanTex]

8. J-Street is substantially better than AIPAC.

[Jefferson23]

10. No they are not, they support land swaps that will leave the Palestinians

with a non viable state. The details are what is important here.

[oberliner]

11. Bernie is great with respect to Israel

Glad to see he is reaching out to J Street.

[Jefferson23]

13. Bernie will not do anything radical regarding Israel.

J Street is AIPAC light, so it won't matter much when it comes to
Israel. They do support the Iran deal, as far as I know...they differ
in that regard.

[oberliner]

14. Yes, he will

He has already called out Netanyahu. He won't be in any kind of hurry to invite him to the White House, that's for sure.

[Jefferson23]

15. That our relationship with Israel is such that you think that would be

considered radical is interesting.

Bernie will be gracious and he will be attentive, it is Bibi who
will not be.

[oberliner]

17. The J Street approach is radically different from AIPAC

Bernie is definitely more in the former camp.

No other presidential candidate is.

His approach to the conflict would be transformative.

[Jefferson23]

18. Bernie is not a hawk, so I don't expect Bibi to appreciate him, at all.

J Street supports land swaps, they're not much different except for
Iran, which is good. I appreciate that about the group.

[oberliner]

20. Have you considered supporting Jill Stein?

I mean that question sincerely.

If you want someone who will definitely take a very radical approach with respect to Israel, she is your candidate.

She also shares a lot in common with Sanders. Look at this excerpt from her campaign announcement the first time around:

We are all realizing that we, the people, have to take charge because the political parties that are serving the top 1 percent are not going to solve the problems that the rest of us face, we need people in Washington who will refuse to be bought by lobbyists and for whom change is not just a slogan.

[Jefferson23]

23. I don't have a radical approach to Israel, that would be AIPAC.

[karynnj]

38. it is good Bernie sides with J STREET which agreed with Obama

Rather than Netanyahu.

[HassleCat]

9. Interesting concept

"Here's what J Street is. Here are some of their bad ideas. Here is absolutely no indication Bernie Sanders has anything to do with them." Can I copy your pot and change the headline to suggest Clinton gets her foreign policy from a Zionist cabal?

[KoKo]

12. Really?

The mainstream of America supports Israel in a manner J-Street obvious does not, and J-Street in reality is not "pro-Israel." Any candidate who gets his ideas from them is disqualified from being President.

Okay....

[BlueMTexpat]

16. With all due respect, J Street is

a decent pro-Israel group that is much better balanced about the I-P situation than AIPAC which has been almost totally overrun by RW zealots.

Sanders could do much worse, IMO.

I believe that foreign policy and relations are definitely not his strong suits and I am a Hillary supporter. But I will not criticize Bernie for listening to J Street.

[ericson00]

19. I would point out two things:

Sanders' approach on foreign policy in the Middle East has not only caught the concern of Democrats, not only because of how bad it is, but also, Obama lost 10% of his Jewish vote in 2012. The GOP is dying to get more Jewish vote, and even tho Sanders is technically Jewish, his views are not shared with most of the rest of American Jewry.

AIPAC are not "RW zealots." They have the support of members of both parties, including progressives from the Democratic Party as well. AIPAC is not the ZOA, which is zealotry.

[Jefferson23]

21. Did you just write that, technically Jewish?

I assure you, not all Jews in the US support AIPAC and Bernie
has no interest in bringing harm to Israel..he just isn't a hawk,
thank goodness.

[ericson00]

25. American Jews' attitudes don't go with J-Street

which the data shows; AIPAC is not some "hawk" organization. They're actually pretty balanced. ZOA, yes that's too hawkish but they're not the mainstream.

[Jefferson23]

28. Your OP is suggesting Bernie is not good for Israel, that is false and anyone

who imagines he will lose the nomination for that false belief is wrong as well.

A J Street affiliation, if Bernie seeks one will not harm him.

[ericson00]

32. it won't hurt him for the nomination (for now), but in the general election

he would get destroyed in part because of that. The GOP would be rushing to put a Jew on their ticket (one with more mainstream views than J-Street), and there would go PA, MI, OH, FL, etc. maybe even some of the blue states that weren't blue before 1992 (eg CT, NJ, MD, etc.)

[Jefferson23]

33. I don't know where you get these ideas from, but that is absurd. The GOP

is not going to go out and find a Jewish Republican to combat Bernie.

[ericson00]

36. why not? Eric Cantor or Norm Coleman

would help keep VA from Bernie, and Coleman could play well in MN, WI, and a bunch of other swingish states too.

[Jefferson23]

41. For one, the political process does not work that way, they are having their primary now.

Secondly, no one is going to care about it the way you believe, Bernie
will be accepted by most Jewish voters...very much so.

[karynnj]

39. the majority of American Jews agree more with JSTREET

You also forget that we would have a Jew at the top. Not to mention, who are the wondrous Republican Jews?

[Ken Burch]

31. AIPAC shows no balance at all.

They essentially label ANY public criticism of the Occupation and the illegal West Bank settlement project as antisemitism if if comes from gentiles, and "self-loathing" if the person saying it is Jewish.

Anathemizing dissent from the Netanyahu policies is a disastrously stupid thing to do, because it makes it harder to move towards a peaceful solution. Anyone who gives the Israeli government special deference is encouraging that government to just keep getting more and more intransigent.

[Fawke Em]

22. My husband is Jewish and he and his mother both believe AIPAC are zealots. eom

[ericson00]

24. given American Jews' actual positions,

perhaps your husband and his mother aren't representative of broader American-Jewish sentiment.

[jillan]

27. Excuse me????? This American-Jew & all of the American-Jews that I associate with all think

Aipac is an extremist organization that does not represent us.

Aipac is the right wing of Judaism.

How dare you try and speak for me!

[Ken Burch]

29. Why defend AIPAC?

Their position is that the Israeli government has to be given special deference and unquestioning support.

Nothing good has ever come of giving Netanyahu that treatment.

Thanks for admitting that HRC won't do anything to try to bring peace to Israel/Palestine, though.

[cali]

43. You ate talking out of your....

http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/

[cali]

42. That is offensive as fuck.

Over 20% of American Jews are secular. Just who the he'll are you to demean them? They are as as Jewish as any Orthodox.

<snip>

Secularism has a long tradition in Jewish life in America, and most U.S. Jews seem to recognize this: 62% say being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture, while just 15% say it is mainly a matter of religion. Even among Jews by religion, more than half (55%) say being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture, and two-thirds say it is not necessary to believe in God to be Jewish.

<snip>
http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/

[Ken Burch]

26. You're mad because J-Street isn't Likudnik.

It's not centrist to defend anything the Israeli government is doing in the West Bank. It's far-right and anti-peace(because the Israeli government is against peace...that's what doing all you can to prevent a Palestinian state from ever being created means, y'know).

Why SHOULDN'T a presidential candidate listen to people outside of the right-wing "any criticism of Israel is antisemitism" viewpoint?

[jillan]

30. Are you trying to say Bernie is not Jewish enough?

[karynnj]

34. makes me support Bernie more - J STREET has had Obama's back

It seems you prefer Netanyahu ' s right wing Republican positions. If this means Bernie is more in line with Obama and his better SoS. I am now much more comfortable with his foreign policy.

Jstreet's positions on the Iran deal, a two state solution, and on the settlements are positions I share.

J Street IS pro Israel and is more in line with American Jews, especially those who are Democrats.

[ebayfool]

35. Didn't Clinton's PAC just get (IIRC) $6 million contribution from George Soros?

snip from your op-

It also hides the financial support it has received from anti-Zionists such as George Soros ...

[ericson00]

37. Hillary has Haim Saban,

who knows the truth about the Jewish State and thus supports it (as does mainstream America). Also, Soros doesn't donate to people like her to influence mid east policy as he does with J-Street.

[ebayfool]

40. Then why did he donate to her PAC? n/t

[ericson00]

44. because he's with her on domestic policy

but on foreign policy, Haim Saban will win, and he must. I'm a big fan of most of the domestic policy bills Obama has signed into law, but there's a reason Hillary wrote what she did in Forward; his I/P policy stinks.