[rad-green] Israel lobby group tries to stop Bernie Sanders in Iowa

*https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/israel-lobby-group-tries-stop-bernie-sanders-iowa
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/israel-lobby-group-tries-stop-bernie-sanders-iowa>Electronic
Intifada          1 February 2020*



*Israel lobby group tries to stop Bernie Sanders in IowaBy Michael F. Brown*

[image: Three people talk on stage]
*CNN pundit Paul Begala, at right, has temporarily left Democratic Majority
for Israel following an attack ad by the organization’s political action
committee against Bernie Sanders. Nancy KaszermanZUMA Press*

I support Bernie Sanders
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/bernie-sanders> for president.

CNN pundit Paul Begala, it’s safe to say, does not.

Begala was serving on the board
<https://demmajorityforisrael.org/paul-begala/> of Democratic Majority for
Israel <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/democratic-majority-israel> at
the same time that the lobby group’s political action committee prepared a
hit ad in Iowa against Sanders.

The closely watched Iowa caucuses on Monday will mark the first time
American voters cast ballots in the 2020 presidential race. Iowans will be
choosing who they want as the Democratic Party’s nominee to face Donald
Trump in November’s general election.

Following questions
<https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1222295661707767808> about an obvious
conflict of interest, Begala announced that “to avoid confusion, I will be
taking a leave of absence from the DMFI board until the primary season is
over.”

The 30-second ad – which can be viewed *here
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOdMo2D9jbk&feature=emb_logo>* – takes aim
at Sanders’ election viability, socialism and health following a heart
attack last year

It says nothing about Israel and refers only to “DMFI PAC” without spelling
out that this stands for the political action committee of Democratic
Majority for Israel.

That unwillingness to mention Israel signals a sea change among Democratic
voters
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/americans-overwhelmingly-reject-anti-bds-laws-poll-finds>
who
are moving away from Israel’s brand of apartheid and anti-Palestinian
discrimination and gravitating toward a candidate willing to say
<https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-sanders-says-netanyahu-is-racist-biden-calls-for-two-state-solution-in-dem-debate-1.8292655>,
as Sanders has, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “a racist” and
that Israel’s actions are unacceptable
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/what-could-bernie-sanders-victory-mean-palestine>
.
Good, not perfect

That said, and though he surpasses the other candidates on Palestinian
rights, Sanders and his foreign policy adviser Matt Duss still do not
support and show solidarity
<https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1222197889063100418> with the
nonviolent Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for
freedom and equality.

Sanders also joined with 11 other US Senators this week in signing a letter
<https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-democratic-senators-reject-trump-plan-urge-administration-to-commit-to-a-viable-two-state-solution>
to
President Trump that continues to support “the vision of a democratic
Jewish state.”

As has been frequently noted, this vision is only possible
<https://mondoweiss.net/2014/03/abunimahs-justice-palestine/> at the
expense of fundamental Palestinian rights.

This is akin to trying to convince Americans that a white supremacist Jim
Crow Christian South would be a good idea. Indeed, it is like saying that
such official racism would provide the “solution” to Black Americans being
denied civil rights, because they could have their own separate  bantustans
<https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/homelands>.

When apartheid is being foisted on a people it is imperative to speak out
for equal rights and not for supremacy of one people over another, or for
political and physical separation of peoples based on race, ethnicity or
religion.

The senators are smart enough to reject a “fragmented, disconnected and
deeply unequal system of Palestinian islets surrounded by Israeli
territory” but not brave enough to call it apartheid or bantustans – though
Sanders adviser Duss did so from his personal Twitter account.

And Duss also indicated that he is researching how to put conditions on US
aid to Israel.

These are positive signs and Sanders and his team – notwithstanding noted
shortcomings – have been outspoken enough to upset Democratic Majority for
Israel, an organization which is desperate to maintain bipartisan support
for Israel at a time when grassroots Democrats are increasingly rejecting
Israel’s brutality toward Palestinians.

Begala’s claim not to have known about the ad seems unlikely, but in any
case DMFI already had a clear record
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/democratic-pro-israel-group-attacks-bernie-sanders>
of
attacking Sanders.

DMFI sought
<https://demmajorityforisrael.org/press-releases/sanders-sarsour-antisemitism-2/>
in
December to divide Sanders from campaign surrogate Linda Sarsour
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/linda-sarsour>, smearing her as
anti-Semitic.

The organization made a broader attack
<https://demmajorityforisrael.org/press-releases/sanders-surrogates-20202/>
against
Sanders and Sarsour as well as other unnamed surrogates and endorsers in
October.

The group also criticized
<https://demmajorityforisrael.org/press-releases/statement-omar-tlaib-trip/>
congresswomen
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first two Muslim women elected to the US
Congress, over their plans for a trip to the occupied West Bank. Both
congresswomen support Sanders.

Begala has no excuse for not knowing about all these attacks and smears as
he sat on the board of Democratic Majority for Israel. It is also notable
that he did not disavow the ad as he stepped aside from DMFI.

If the Sanders campaign is victorious in Iowa, or highly competitive, more
such attacks can be expected.

Strikingly, however, such efforts may backfire
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/us/politics/bernie-sanders-attack-ads.html>
as
supporters of Sanders become more determined to back their candidate.

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