Democrat President Bernie Sanders vowed to emphasize a peaceful solution leading to the formation of a Palestinian state, contrary to Israel’s friendly President Donald Trump.
Half a year after all Democrats failed to attend the annual pro-Israel lobbying conference, AIPAC, five candidates appeared in private speech at the same convention center in Washington before J Street, a left-wing group that insisted it was more in tune with the American Jewish population.
Bernie Sanders, who rarely spoke of his Jewish beliefs, described how the murder of his father’s family members in the Holocaust incident shaped his view.
“If anyone in the world understood racism and white nationalism, it would have been Jewish,” Sanders said in a loud applause.
Waking up from his seat on stage to speak, Bernie Sanders, who would become the first US president, accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of creating a split.
“Let me say this because it will be misunderstood, it is not anti-Semitic to say the Netanyahu government is racist, that’s a fact”, Sanders said.
“We demand that the Israeli government consult with the Palestinians and negotiate a working agreement with all parties,” he said.
Sanders said his message to Israel would read: “If you want military assistance, you need to change relations with the Palestinians.”
He urged that part of the $3.8 billion annual military aid be turned into humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip in ‘radical benefits’, for the poor and densely populated region since he chose Hamas in 2007.
