- Steven Salaita: How Bernie Sanders Became a Fighter for Palestine / On the importance of mythology Archived Message
- Steven Salaita: How Bernie Sanders Became a Fighter for Palestine / On the importance of mythology - sashimi February 26, 2020, 7:09 am
- That's all true, and yet... - Sinister Burt February 26, 2020, 5:46 pm
Posted by sashimi
on February 26, 2020, 7:09 am
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- to presidential campaigns H/T MintPress News (extract) Common wisdom on the left says that all of the candidates are bad on Palestine except for Bernie Sanders. Despite some problems, pundits declare, Sanders is still the best[1]. Is the statement true, though, or is it a convenient truism? It's both, really. Sanders appears to be better than his counterparts, but the advantage doesn't exist in a vacuum. A lot of mythologizing has helped Sanders' reputation. He's proved skillful at sounding the right notes without actually transcending a dull foreign policy consensus. For example, I don't see how anybody can read Sanders' responses here[2] next to those of his opponents and objectively conclude that they're superior (or even meaningfully different). In fact, billionaire Tom Steyer's answers are arguably better, or at least equivalent. Moreover, Sanders almost always introduces support for Palestinians by professing[3] devotion[4] to Israel's security and right to exist[5]. He has a long history of funding Israeli war crimes. (His claim that he'll condition aid to Israel on a better human rights record is a sucker's bet; Sanders has had three decades to apply that principle.) All the candidates are Zionist. I don't care to parse the nuances of their Zionism. Seeking - or, worse, celebrating - a kinder colonizer is a waste of time. In short, Sanders is similar to his opponents around Palestine, but his reputation around Palestine is far better. That reputation doesn't correspond to the substance of his legislative history or his public comments. Supporters project onto him what they hope or assume he'll do, but hasn't done throughout his long career in office. The myth of Sanders being "good" or "the best" has made it so that supporting him isn't merely a pragmatic concession; it can now be passed off as devotion to Palestine. ... Try to extricate yourself from the hullabaloo of electoralism and consider a straightforward question: when have we ever witnessed Bernie Sanders fighting for Palestinians? Many of his supporters have taken up the fight, but Sanders hasn't joined them. Instead, he gestures toward vague ideals of justice without committing to what Palestinians in struggle repeatedly profess to be their version of freedom (the right of return and equality in their ancestral homeland). He's happy to let supporters fill the vagueness with their own suppositions. Was Sanders fighting for Palestinian rights when he fondly recalled[6] living on a kibbutz (in other words, a racialized settlement)? When he voted in favor of a Senate resolution[7] (introduced by Mitch McConnell) that recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital? When he yelled[8] at constituents protesting the war crimes Israel was committing with weapons he voted to provide? When he fired[9] a campaign staffer for criticizing Netanyahu? When he went on a Zionist diatribe[10] in an interview with a Palestinian journalist? When he blamed[11] an Israeli massacre of 50 civilians on "Hamas"? When he suggested[12] that Palestinian parents train their children to become suicide bombers? All of these things happened since Israel's 2014 destruction of the Gaza Strip, one of the century's most vicious events. How about when he calls[13] himself "100 percent pro-Israel"? Or opposes BDS? Or offers "both sides" pabulum in response to yet more Israeli war crimes? Or declines to support the right of return (Andrew Yang accidentally provided[14] the model for a good answer)?   The best on Palestine Sanders occasionally exhibits empathy for Palestinians and regularly highlights the difficulties of life under Israeli occupation (1967 only), but he doesn't use a fighting vocabulary. He never speaks of colonization, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, apartheid, or land theft. "Occupation" is the strongest word he deploys. He also has a habit of reserving sharp criticism for Netanyahu, usually positioned as a Trumpian aberration from a more benevolent norm. In Sanders's lexicon, the problem isn't Zionism, but Netanyahu's Israel[15]. /* Links */ [1] - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/07/bernie-sanders-israel-palestine-bds [2] - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/politics/2020-democrats-israel-foreign-policy.html [3] - https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-israel-and-the-palestinians/ [4] - https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/04/23/bernie-sanders-israel-middle-east-netanyahu-vpx.cnn [5] - https://medium.com/@SenSanders/j-street-2018-conference-10817d8660a4 [6] - https://jewishcurrents.org/how-to-fight-antisemitism/ [7] - https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-resolution/176/text [8] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/08/20/answering-question-on-israel-bernie-sanders-tells-townhall-hecklers-to-shut-up/ [9] - https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/simone-zimmerman-s-story-echoes-of-jewish-disillusionment-1.5416023 [10] - [11] - https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/996062472657342465?s=20 [12] - https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/read-in-full-bernie-sanders-speech-to-j-street-conference-1.5442941 [13] - https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/04/23/bernie-sanders-israel-middle-east-netanyahu-vpx.cnn [14] - https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1226902520431337472?s=20 [15] - https://twitter.com/IfNotNowOrg/status/1161356353966944257?s=20 (/extract) -- https://stevesalaita.com/how-bernie-sanders-became-a-fighter-for-palestine/ |
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