My Turn: What Trump and Sanders have in common on Israel
Bishara A. Bahbah
AZ Central
As has been customary over the past half century, U.S. presidential candidates have tripped over each other pledging their unwavering and unconditional allegiance to Israel.
To the disbelief of most, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have taken positions with regard to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine that are diametrically opposite to those held by their respective political establishments.
Where Trump and Sanders stand
Israeli soldiers search for three missing teens in the town of Halhul near the West Bank city of Hebron. Since launching the operation, Israel has detained at least 360 Palestinians, including 250 Hamas operatives and 57 former prisoners released in 2011. (Photo: AP)
On the Republican side, Trump, the front-runner, declared during a heated debate with fellow Republican candidates that there was no one “on this stage that’s more pro-Israel than I am.” But, in an unusual and daring policy shift, he also declared that he would be “sort of a neutral guy” when he pursues a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
On the Democratic side, Sanders, an American Jew, called for the U.S. to seek a “level playing field” in its approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Following his surprise win in Michigan, attributed in part to the strong support of Arab-American voters in the state, Sanders added that “All I can tell you is, I will make every single effort to bring rational people on both sides together, so that hopefully we can have a level playing field, the United States treating everybody in that region equally.”
Their opponents aren’t so neutral
In this 2006 file photo, Palestinian workers stand in line next to Israel’s separation barrier as they wait to cross a checkpoint into Jerusalem. (Photo: Oded Balilty/AP)
By comparison, Marco Rubio, who has since dropped out of the race, said that by advocating neutrality, Trump was adopting an “anti-Israeli policy.” As for the Palestinians, Rubio said, “They teach little kids – 5 year olds – that it’s a glorious thing to kill Jews.”
Rubio unabashedly reiterated that his intention is to be “unbalanced (that is, pro-Israel) on this issue once elected.”
Republican Ted Cruz responded by declaring that, “As president, I have no intention of being neutral.” He reminded voters of his unwavering pro-Israel activism in the Senate.
Cruz has repeatedly said that anyone who criticizes Israel is “un-American” and asserted “those who hate Israel also hate America.” He pledged to cut off U.S. funding to the Palestinian Authority and move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Clinton carefully frames the debate
Palestinian protesters throw stones during clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank city of Hebron, on Oct. 18, 2015. (Photo: ABED AL HASHLAMOUN, EPA)
As for Hillary Clinton, the most likely nominee of the Democratic party and the candidate most experienced in foreign policy, she often cites her strong advocacy for the two-state solution, but carefully frames the endgame of Palestinian statehood “in the long-term best interests of Israel, as well as the region.”
However, with an eye on her very generous Jewish campaign donors and Jewish voters in key states such as Florida, New Jersey and New York, Clinton wrote an op-ed article in the Forward last November that was titled, “How I Would Reaffirm Unbreakable Bond with Israel – and Benjamin Netanyahu.” In the article, she touted her pro-Israel credentials and promised uncritical support for a range of Israeli policies once elected.
Bishara A. Bahbah of Scottsdale. (Photo: handout)
In the context of U.S. politics, both Trump and Sanders’ positions on the Israel-Palestine peace process are fairly remarkable in bucking the bipartisan establishment consensus that the United States should be openly biased in favor of Israel in its conflict with Palestine.
As much as the Palestinians would yearn to have the U.S. as a “neutral peace broker,” so that one day they would live in peace, free of Israel’s oppressive occupation, do the Palestinians really want the support of a Donald Trump who advocates banning Muslims from entering the U.S., close American mosques, creating a database of American Muslims, deporting 11.5 million undocumented immigrants (mostly Hispanics), and building a huge wall of “hate” between the U.S. and Mexico?
No! But no thanks.
Source: www.azcentral.com