Bernie Sanders says he would ‘absolutely’ mull cutting aid to pressure
Israel
Vermont senator and leading
2020 Democrat says he is not anti-Israel but insists US’s Mideast policy
cannot just be ‘pro-Israel pro-Israel pro-Israel’
WASHINGTON —
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a leading 2020 Democratic candidate for
president, would “absolutely” consider dangling cuts to American foreign aid to
Israel in order to pressure Jerusalem.
The US provides
Israel with some $3.8 billion in military assistance, and asked if he would
“ever consider using that as leverage to get the Israeli government to act
differently,” the Brooklyn native answered, “Absolutely.”
Sanders, who is currently running in
second place in most Democratic primary polls, made the comments Friday to
former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau on the
popular Pod Save America podcast.
The candidate,
who is Jewish and has spent time on a kibbutz in Israel, is considered to be
more critical of Jerusalem than others running for the Democratic nomination.
He sought to
contextualize his answer by saying that he would not make decisions that render
Israel is militarily vulnerable.
“I have family
in Israel. I am Jewish. I am not anti-Israel,” he said. “Okay, I believe that
the people of Israel have absolutely the right to live in peace, independence, and security. End of discussion — that is what I fervently believe.”
But, he
added: “I think what has happened is in recent years under Netanyahu, you
have an extreme right-wing government with many racist tendencies.”
Sanders has
previously referred to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a racist, and he
sharply condemned the prime minister’s maneuver earlier this year that allowed
for an anti-Arab racist party to enter the Knesset.
He has also been
a strong critic of Israel’s settlement activity and West Bank presence. In
June, he posed with IfNowNow activists holding a sign that read, “Jews Against
Occupation.”
On the podcast,
Sanders said that the US policy toward Israel could not be one-dimensional, but
instead more holistically focused on what best serves the interest of the
United States and the region, including the Palestinians.
“This is not easy
stuff — to try to finally bring peace to the Middle East and to treat the
Palestinian people with a kind of respect and dignity they deserve,” he said.
“Our policy cannot just be pro-Israel pro-Israel pro-Israel. It has got to be
pro-region working with all of the people, all of the countries in that area.”
On the podcast,
Sanders said that the US policy toward Israel could not be one-dimensional, but
instead more holistically focused on what best serves the interest of the
United States and the region, including the Palestinians.
“This is not
easy stuff — to try to finally bring peace to the Middle East and to treat the
Palestinian people with a kind of respect and dignity they deserve,” he said.
“Our policy cannot just be pro-Israel pro-Israel pro-Israel. It has got to be
pro-region working with all of the people, all of the countries in that area.”
The aid package
is seen in Israel as key to helping it maintain its qualitative military edge
over potential threats in the region.
In April 2016,
Sanders was one of 17 senators who did not sign a letter to Obama urging him to
increase aid to Israel.
Sanders is not
the first prominent Democrat to float the idea of cutting aid to Israel if it
maintains policies that the US opposes on moral and political grounds.
In April,
freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was asked on Yahoo’s
Skullduggery podcast if the US should consider recalibrating its Israel policy.
“I think so,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I
think these are part of conversations we are having in our caucus, but I think
what we are really seeing is an ascent of authoritarianism across the world. I
think that Netanyahu is a Trump-like figure.”
Cutting military
or economic aid to Israel was, she said, “certainly on the table.”
The liberal
Zionist group J Street credited her at the time with expressing a “nuanced”
opinion on American policy toward Israel.
“Nuanced position from @AOC in
wake of Netanyahu annexation pledge: open up discussion of US-Israel
relations,” the organization’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami tweeted. “J Street
view: the US can assure Israeli security w/o funding activities that run counter to
US values, interests such as annexation, demolitions.”
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