If you were listening to Robert Scheer each week on his podcast and if you knew
his history, I suspect that his attitude on this issue would bother you as much
as it bothers me because on every other issue, he's absolutely spot on. He was
the editor of Ramparts, which was the anti war magazine during the Vietnam War,
and he spends a lot of time during his podcasts, being outrage about things
that outrage us. But this thing about the founding of Israel? Even Noam Chomsky
doesn't say anything in opposition to it and he's not supportive of the BDS
movement either. I do understand the emotional part. It's just that I have
difficulty understanding why such intelligent and ethical people haven't been
able to move beyond where we all were before 1970.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2019 8:57 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Why is Bernie Sanders still encouraging Israel's
crimes?
Bernie is about what we can expect to get if we want to keep the current
government, with a slight socialist leaning. His foreign positions are more
moderate than were those of Hilary Clinton, but Bernie is not going to risk the
wrath of the Pentagon and the War Industry.
As for those who think there was no injustice in plumping the flag of Israel
down in a Land occupied by Palestinians, they most assuredly accept the
grabbing of the North American continent by the Europeans as God's Will.
As for their studied opinions? I could care less!
Carl Jarvis
On 7/27/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was also very disappointed in Robert Scheer, whose positions on
issues I usually agree with, when, during his interview with Abby
Martin about her Empire Files new film on Gaza, which is on the latest
episode of Scheer Intelligence, He could not understand why there was
any injustice involved in the creation of the State of Israel on
Palestinian land. His position is that young people who weren't alive
during World War 2, can't truly understand why Jewish people needed
their own homeland and how left wing and socialist, Israel was back
then. Well yes, that's what we all thought back then, but I'm the same
age as he and I managed to understand what actually happened. I've
read Ben Gurion's plans written in the 30's, to take over all of
Palestine.
Miriam
Why is Bernie Sanders still encouraging Israel's crimes?
Ali Abunimah Power Suits 22 July 2019
Senator Bernie Sanders says he would "probably not" move the US
embassy in Israel back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
This will disappoint supporters of Palestinian rights and it sends a
dangerous signal of encouragement to Israel and its extremist
supporters who run US policy in the region.
President Donald Trump recognized Israel's claim to Jerusalem as its
capital and announced the embassy move in December 2017.
This prompted a large majority of countries in the United Nations
General Assembly to declare Trump's action legally "null and void" and
to demand that it be "rescinded."
Ignoring international opinion, the US opened the embassy on 14 May 2018.
That same day, Israeli sharpshooters massacred more than 60
Palestinians during unarmed Great March of Return protests in the besieged
Gaza Strip.
But Sanders appears ready to let Trump's illegal action stand.
Sanders was speaking in an interview with journalist Robert Costa at a
Washington Post event last week sponsored by Bank of America.
Watch it above.
No clear commitment
Costa asked Sanders if he would move the embassy back. Sanders replied:
"Probably not," adding, "it would be part of a broader discussion of
how we bring peace to the region."
"Israel, 100 percent, must have the right to exist in peace and
security, and not be subjected to terrorist attacks," Sanders said.
"Palestinian people also have the right to live in peace and security."
Sanders made a general commitment to engage in "bringing people
together and working out a solution that works for both sides," but
offered no specifics.
He did not repeat his pledge to use US military aid as leverage to
force Israel to end its abuses of Palestinians.
Sanders' failure to send a clear signal that he will reverse US
support for illegal Israeli actions tells Israel and the US
administration that any fait accompli they put in place will
eventually be recognized and absorbed as irreversible conventional
wisdom.
Trump has already recognized Israel's illegal annexation of the
occupied Golan Heights, Syrian territory Israel conquered in a war of
territorial expansion in 1967.
The US also appears to be heading towards recognizing a possible
Israeli annexation of all or part of the occupied West Bank.
US officials have given open support to Israel's ethnic cleansing of
occupied East Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood.
This is part of Israel's effort to remake Jerusalem's past, present
and future as exclusively Jewish by erasing its Muslim, Christian,
Arab and Palestinian histories and character.
Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes in the city is escalating
sharply.
On Monday, Israeli occupation forces went on a rampage of destruction,
demolishing 10 Palestinian-owned buildings containing dozens of
apartments in the Jerusalem-area village of Sur Bahir.
A step backwards
Sanders is the de facto leader of the progressive wing of the Democrats.
His
failure to pledge to oppose and reverse illegal actions by Israel and
the United States also tells other party hopefuls that they need not
take clear and principled positions on Palestinian rights.
Most Democrats are making cautious rhetorical nods to the party's
increasingly pro-Palestinian base. But Sanders is the only one who has
pledged a clear shift in policy by using military aid as leverage to
pressure Israel to respect Palestinians' rights.
The Vermont senator has a decidedly mixed record on Palestinian
rights. He stated his opposition to the nonviolent boycott, divestment
and sanctions movement while speaking out against legislation backed
by the Israel lobby aimed at thwarting BDS.
In 2014, Sanders notoriously defended Israel's assault on Gaza that
killed
2,200 Palestinians, including 550 children.
By 2018, however, Sanders was putting out videos highlighting the
horrific impact of Israel's siege and violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
That was a clear sign that Sanders is feeling grassroots pressure to
support Palestinian rights.
But now he is taking a big step backwards. His "probably not" answer
effectively gives progressive blessing and encouragement to Israel and
the Trump administration to violate more Palestinian rights.
Progressives must not overlook this serious lapse in the hopes that it
will somehow help the senator build broader support for other policies
they want, such as Medicare for All.
Healthcare for Americans cannot come at the expense of Palestinian
rights and lives.
Sanders must be clear that he will reverse the embassy move, rescind
US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, cancel US recognition
of Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights and end the bipartisan
policy of financing, encouraging and rewarding Israel's crimes.
