Mondoweiss
Bernie Sanders' progressive take on 'how to fight antisemitism' reveals an
outdated understanding of Israel
Opinion
Nada Eliaon November 11, 2019
Bernie Sanders speaking at a campaign rallyBernie Sanders speaking at a
campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Arizona, November 2016 (Photo: Gage
Skidmore)
Bernie Sanders' editorial, "How to Fight Antisemitism," strikes many right
notes with today's progressives. Noting that hate crimes have risen since
Trump's election, he writes: "The antisemites who marched in Charlottesville
don't just hate Jews. They hate the idea of multiracial democracy. They hate
the idea of political equality. They hate immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ
people, women, and anyone else who stands in the way of a whites-only
America. They accuse Jews of coordinating a massive attack on white people
worldwide, using people of color and other marginalized groups to do their
dirty work."
Bernie goes on to denounce the weaponization of antisemitism, both as a
strategy to divide progressives, and as an attempt to smother criticism of
Israel. Antisemitism, Bernie asserts, is "a conspiracy theory that a
secretly powerful minority exercises control over society. Like other forms
of bigotry-racism, sexism, homophobia-antisemitism is used by the right to
divide people from one another and prevent us from fighting together for a
shared future of equality, peace, prosperity, and environmental justice. So
I want to say as clearly as I possibly can: We will confront this hatred, do
exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing and embrace our differences to
bring people together."
So far, so good. But then, Bernie goes on to make a shockingly
anachronistic statement, namely that "One of the most dangerous things
Trump has done is to divide Americans by using false allegations of
antisemitism, mostly regarding the US-Israel relationship. We should be very
clear that it is not antisemitic to criticize the policies of the Israeli
government."
For any justice-minded activist who has supported Palestinian rights for
many long years before Trump even aspired to the presidency, and who has
been smeared as antisemitic by liberals and PEPS (Progressive Except for
Palestine) alike for decades, who has been placed on blacklists, been denied
promotions, or lost their livelihood for criticizing the policies of the
Israeli government, long before Trump, this statement is offensive. The
systematic censorship of any progressive criticism of Israel, the "Palestine
Exception to Free Speech," as it has become known, has long relied on the
false allegation of antisemitism. It is not, as Bernie would have it,
Trump's doing.
Bernie's misjudgement of the chronology of the weaponization of the charge
of antisemitism is, however, in tune with another serious historical blunder
he makes, namely his liberal Zionist nostalgia for pre-1967 Israel. Despite
his oddly vague claim, that "the founding of Israel is understood by another
people in the land of Palestine as the cause of their painful displacement,"
Bernie is quick to assert that Israel's serious crimes only started with the
1967 occupation.
"When I look at the Middle East, I see Israel as having the capacity to
contribute to peace and prosperity for the entire region, yet unable to
achieve this in part because of its unresolved conflict with the
Palestinians. And I see a Palestinian people yearning to make their
contribution-and with so much to offer-yet crushed underneath a military
occupation now over a half-century old, creating a daily reality of pain,
humiliation, and resentment. Ending that occupation and enabling the
Palestinians to have self-determination in an independent, democratic,
economically viable state of their own is in the best interests of the
United States, Israel, the Palestinians, and the region," Bernie writes.
Clearly, the two-state delusion is a hard one to give up. So I will be very
honest: Bernie is not my dream candidate. His nostalgia about pre-1967
Israel reveals a blindness to the structural oppression inherent in the
foundation of the ethno-nationalist state he cherishes. He asserts that "My
pride and admiration for Israel lives alongside my support for Palestinian
freedom and independence. I reject the notion that there is any
contradiction there," and yet he seems unaware that the same discrimination
he decries in the West Bank after 1967 was, and remains, the daily
experience of Palestinians within the Green Line. He does not acknowledge
that Israel has denied Palestinians the Right of Return to their towns and
cities beginning in 1948, not just since 1967, and that Israel was already
shooting Palestinians attempting to reclaim their properties in 1948, 1949,
and ever since, not just since The Great March of Return.
Nevertheless, this election cycle, I am nothing but pragmatic. While I
still denounce all Zionism as racism, my criticism of Bernie does not mean I
will not vote for him, even encourage others to vote for him, should he be
the Democratic nominee. And in many ways, Bernie remains the best viable
presidential candidate as far as Palestinians are concerned, not least
because of his recent statement about redirecting some of the US aid to
Israel towards humanitarian aid for Gaza, and his recognition that there can
be no solution that does not address Palestinian rights and aspirations.
This country has come so far to the right that a Bernie Sanders presidency,
while not solving most problems, will bring about a much needed corrective,
both domestically, and in terms of foreign polic
