Friday, February 5, 2016

Bernie Sanders' Actions About Israel and Voting Record

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Bernie Sanders is a typical American Jew in that he is not a particularly religious.one.  His father immigrated from Poland in 1921 when the USA was about to close its doors on Jewish immigrants from Europe.  Somehow this Brooklyn-born son has picked up socialist values, as that is what he is touting though running on the Democratic ticket, though he is an Independent Senator.    He has been milk toast in regards to Israel as a senator, especially during the past 2 years.  .

                                                                     
Campaigning Bernie "Bernard" Sanders

Up to 2014, he has become highly critical of Israel.  Before that, he says he spent a few months working on a kibbutz in Israel in the 60's  but hasn't named it and no one could  find any records.  Finally, it has been discovered in the Haaretz Archives that he had been on Sha'ar Ha'amakeim in Northern Israel as a guest of the Hashomer Hatzair Youth Movement.   Located near Kiryat Tiv'on, it falls under the jurisdiction of Zevulun Regional Council.   In 2006, it had a population of 548. The Sha'ar HaAmakim kibbutz was founded in 1935 by immigrants from Romania and Yugoslavia. Its name was derived from the nearby confluence of the Jezreel and Zevulun valleys . Most of the kibbutz members work in the Chromogen solar water heater factory, whilst the remainder work in agriculture. No doubt volunteers such as Bernie was in agriculture and cows.   An article written before he became senator said that "after spending time on the kibbutz, he seems to have lost his connection to Israel, Zionism and Judaism, but fails to offer any further details, instead asking the then-hopeful senator why he chose to settle in Vermont."

He said as a senator that the situation between Israel and the Palestinians has gone on for 60 years and is depressing and a difficult issue.

My opinion is that he did not understand the situation that developed in 2014 in Israel's Operation Protective Edge  at all which caused his change of attitude towards Israel.  He did not understand what had been going on and why only 72 Israelis had died when 2,100 Palestinians died in the fight, and many of these were civilians, he thought.  He did not really look into why Israel had been blamed for bombing some UN facilities but just gave it all a blanket negative thumbs down as shown in his acts

As Wikipedia wrote about it,  following the IDF Operation Defensive Edge when  Hamas started rocket attacks, targeting Israeli cities and infrastructure, and resulted  in seven weeks of Israeli operations. The Israeli strikes, the Palestinian rocket attacks and the ground fighting resulted in the death of about 2,100  Gazan Arabs and 72 Israeli IDF.    Israel, as it always does, gave the Palestinians plenty of warning to stop their attacks, and to get out of the way when they were forced to retaliate, but this is something that the Palestinian leaders plan on, having a high death rate in order to cause Israel to be in a bad light.  They really don't care a hoot about the lives of their own people as long as they get their wanted results.  Did Bernie understand all this?  It doesn't look like he bothered to find out from his reaction.  
                                                                     
Democratic Ticket-Bernie and Hillary, running neck to neck in Iowa 
Because of this, he has not signed any AIPAC backed letters about Israel who try to explain issues.  "Sanders was one of 21 of 100 U.S. senators not to sign on as a co-sponsor to Senate Resolution 498, which expressed support for Israel “as it defends itself against unprovoked rocket attack from Hamas.”

He was not one of the Senators to attend Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech in February 2015 that he had made to the joint session of Congress as to why the Iran deal about nuclear energy was a bad one.  This is what we call a shunda (a sad state of affairs).  He is one of the few Jewish senators and should have bothered to investigate Israel's position better.  In fact, " when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would address Congress in March warning lawmakers on Iran’s nuclear program, Sanders was the first senator to boycott the speech because Netanyahu's speech was  “arranged without consultation with the White House.”   

Sander's talking points in campaigning for President revolves around big money against the little man-Socialistic values and the state of the USA economy.  He wants much to be free for people, some of which are good ideas, such as Health.  He wants colleges and universities to also be free, probably run by the government.  In other words, he's all for bigger government.  It's too bad he has never investigated how teeny Israel manages their socialistic values of health along with being the leaders of start up businesses. Instead he only must have learned about how to milk a cow while on the kibbutz.   They are definitely a democratic country.  Even their health plans are varied and include insurance plans using the best of doctors, and free health care for those who need it.

He's all for a 2-State Solution for the 2 people but doesn't have any idea how to bring about peace.  Right now, even the left in Israel are not for this at this time.  They're busy fighting off Palestinians who are stabbing people or ramming them with their autos.  The Palestinians are not for peace with Israelis.  They haven't been since 1948, and they've been offered everything imaginable.  The fear is that no one wants a one state solution, either, as Israel must keep the 80%-20% balance in favor of Israel.  It's the only Jewish state in the world.  Muslims have 48 Muslim majority states without a Palestine already.

He thinks Obama did a great job with the Iran deal and so goes along with much of the Democrat's thinking.

Since 1991, we have had 13 Jewish Senators.  11 are Democrats, Sanders is the one Independent, and there is one Republican.  Altogether since 1845, we have had only 35 Jewish Senators.  After all, we Jews are only 2% of the USA population.  24 have been Democrats,  8 Republicans, and Joe Lieberman in 1989 was a Democrat-Independent.  One was even a Whig in 1853.

With the Arabs, he has high ratings of 2+.  Here's the reason why.

Rated +2 by American Arab Institute, indicating pro-Arab pro-Palestine voting record.

Sanders scores +2 by AAI on Arab-Israeli issues  Out of 10 issues, he voted yes for 5 of them in favor of the Arabs and 3 of them a no, which were in favor of Israel.   One evidently he skipped over.    See below which ones.
The Arab American Institute has compiled a Scorecard to catalogue the voting record of the 112th Congress (ran from January 3, 2011 until January 3, 2013) on issues of importance to the Arab American community. Though not comprehensive, we have attempted to provide a snapshot of legislation concerning many of the primary issues concerning Arab Americans. For the Senate, we have included 10 items: two bills on the Arab Spring, three on Palestine, one on Lebanon, one regarding civil liberties, and two for immigration reform.

On one scorecard Bernie had + on #6 about Lebanon and #10 on Immigration. On another as follows:
  1. S. Res. 44: (+) calls on former President Hosni Mubarak to immediately begin a peaceful transition to a democratic political system
  2. S. Res. 109: (+) honoring and supporting women in North Africa and the Middle East
  3. 2011, S. Res. 138: (-) calling on the United Nations to rescind (remove) the Goldstone report, formally known as the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which accused the Israeli government of targeting Palestinian civilians.  He voted not to remove this.  Rubio and Levin were co-sponsors and voted for it. 
  4. May 2011, S. Res. 185: (-) reaffirming the commitment of the US to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and calling for a US veto of any UN resolution on Palestinian statehood without a settlement. Rubio and Wyden were 2 of 90 co-sponsors 45 Republicans, 44 Democrats, but not Sanders.  
  5. June 9, 2011, S. Con. Res. 23: (-) supporting Israel in maintaining defensible borders, and against Israel returning to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967 by Orrin Hatch, States that: (1) it is U.S. policy to support Israel in maintaining secure, recognized, and defensible borders; and (2) it is contrary to U.S. policy and our national security to have Israel's borders return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967. Referred to foreign relations committee. 
  6. S. 558: (+) the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, to limit the use of cluster munitions in areas normally inhabited by civilians.
  7. S. 1125: (+) greater judicial review of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and greater protections to individuals being monitored or gag-ordered by the FBI.
  8. S.1038, the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act, in opposition of PATRIOT Act extension.
  9. S. 723: (-) The Birthright Citizenship Act, limiting citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants born in the US.
  10. S. 952: (+) the DREAM Act, allowing undocumented minors to become US citizens, provided they meet certain conditions, including good moral character.  
Update: 2/17/16  Bernie finally realizes he is Jewish and opens up on Jewish Jewish pride. In answering a student, he said "“Obviously, being Jewish is very, very important to me,” Sanders said. “I am very proud of my heritage. And what comes to my mind so strongly as a kid growing up in Brooklyn and seeing people with numbers on their wrists — you probably have not seen that — but those were the people who came out of the concentration camps. And knowing that, my — a good part of my father’s family was killed by the Nazis. And that lesson that I learned as a very young person is politics is a serious business. And when you have a lunatic like Hitler gaining power — 50 million people died in World War 2. So I am very, very proud to be Jewish and I’m proud of my heritage.”
Update 3/9/16 http://breakingisraelnews.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5c0f59e0cd1aba49e650622c4&id=1d2b5920d6&e=55a1055ec8 Bernie Sanders Shows his true colors towards Israel, and they're not blue and white. Bernie Sanders Blames Israel’s Existence for 60 Years of “Hatred and Conflict” in Mideast. 
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/63272/bernie-sanders-blames-israels-existence-60-years-hatred-conflict-mideast-jewish-world/#uQrLdpx83Gc02tk1.99 

Update: 3/14/16 on CNN, 12:35pm- black minister went on non-stop tirade about how Bernie Sanders needs to meet Jesus-convert, evidently...seems to have been defending Trump but got off on Sanders, and wouldn't stop.  The two women talking to him were mortified. Highly offensive to Jewish people listening.  One lady-black-disagreed in his Christian opinion about this, defending Sanders as a Jew who loved his religion.  
Update: 4/8/16 While speaking in New York: Sanders does not apologize , denies stating "fact" that Israel killed 10,000 Palestinians.http://unitedwithisrael.org/jewish-rights-group-demands-sanders-recant-false-claim-on-gaza-war-casualties/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Sanders+Won%27t+Apologize+to+Israel%3B+Cruz+Bakes+Matzah+and+Says+%27God+Bless+Netanyahu%27&utm_campaign=20160408_m130723560_Sanders+Won%27t+Apologize+to+Israel%3B+Cruz+Bakes+Matzah+and+Says+%27God+Bless+Netanyahu%27&utm_term=Sanders+Does+Not+Apologize_2C+Denies+Stating+_E2_80_98Fact_E2_80_99+that+Israel+Killed+10_2C000ing ‘Fact’ t Israel Killed 10,000 

 "http://www.jewishjournal.com/election2016/article/sanders_opens_up_on_jewish_pride_trump_hit_on_israel_neutrality
Resource: http://forward.com/news/national/310087/is-bernie-sanders-a-lefty-except-for-israel/
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/12/part-7-of-rebuttal-on-operation.html on Operation Defensive Edge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Israel%E2%80%93Gaza_conflict     2014
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/07/when-hamas-took-over-power-in-gaza.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/07/1987-first-intifada-getting-to-heart-of.html
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/45248/presidential-election-cheat-sheet-bernie-sanders-and-israel-jerusalem/#q3daHVTzF4BEFAg1.97
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/8/19/1413459/-Bernie-Sanders-Record-Israel
http://www.ontheissues.org/international/Bernie_Sanders_Foreign_Policy.htm
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewsens.html
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/.premium-1.674364
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.701513
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha%27ar_HaAmakim
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/aai/pages/9810/attachments/original/1432069024/Scorecard_112_part_1.pdf?1432069024


8 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for this article !! The only fear supporters of Bernie have is that being Jewish, he would put the wants of Israel above the needs of the US and our citizens.
    There is a growing number of Americans that consider it treason for the people they elect and pay to represent them to sign a letter of loyalty to another country or a corporation. Their loyalty and only priority should be to the US Constitution and the American people, not the lobby of a foreign country. Again thank you for pointing out that Bernie did the right thing.
    As to Netanyahu going before his puppets in Congress, with the intention of disrespecting the president. He not only disrespected the president, he disrespected the American people. At least those Americans that are loyal to America. Regardless of who the president is, regardless of how a citizen feels toward his policies, a patriot American understands that when an outsider openly insults or disrespects our president it is also an insult toward the American people. And on top of that, Netanyahu has zero credibility.
    He has been screaming "Iran has a bomb" since 1992 and standing in front of the world holding a drawing of a cartoon bomb did not help take his words seriously. There is zero proof that Iran has any intention of creating nuclear weapons. The leaked documents in 2015 confirmed that Israel's own intel agencies agree. Netanutjob is a warmongering idiot probably with large investments in the American war machine, just like the warmongering US congress members, and make millions of dollars by keeping American troops in wars.
    He pushed for the US to attack Iraq (op-ed NYT 9-4-2002)knowing the WMD report was a lie. And then in April of 2003 Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel has "a long list of issues we are thinking of demanding of the Syrians, and it would be best done through the Americans." What is the real Israeli National Anthem,
    "Onward Christian Soldiers"?
    While I could respond to all your questions/comments, I can not see it making a difference to you or your normal readers. I say normal in the sense that this blog is already on FB being shared by Bernie's supporters, so expect an increase in views.
    Please do not confuse being Pro American for anti-Semitic. I will never understand the mindset of those who label everyone that criticizes the actions of the GOI or a Jewish Organization as an anti-Semitic. To be honest, calling people anti-Semitic has been so abused that it ranks right up there with the cartoon bomb at the UN, the person using it does not appear credible. Just Saying.





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  2. Seaoftears, I'll start with your perception of anti-Semitism. It is:"Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities."
    Contemporary Examples of Anti-Semitism are:
    Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews (often in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion).
    Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective—especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
    Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, the state of Israel, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
    Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust. and the big one is:

    Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interest of their own nations.

    After 8 years of Obama, who has been the worst president and has shown so much distain for Israel, we Jewish Americans are interested in seeing someone who can judge fairly. My findings about Sanders is that he would not be for the reasons you cite and for his own personal interests which is disappointing to me.
    For your information, Netanyahu put his own politics aside for the life of his people to go to the USA Senate and give his reasons why he was worried about Iran. He did it at the UN, and his visual aid was not a cartoon drawing; it was a good diagram to show visually to people what could happen. He was warning the world of an immense calamity based on facts. You would rather he not say anything, and G-d forbid, let it happen to New York or some other large city. I see you are being very snide against Netanyahu. So go ahead and vote for someone who has not kept their American Ambassador safe. No one was around with a "cartoon" to warn her of what could happen, and she sure wasn't seeing that development by herself. Or go ahead and vote for someone who has not a clue of what's going on in the Middle East and is ONLY concerned with getting free college tuition at home. There's lots of things to consider when voting for a president of the USA today.

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  3. The definition of anti-Semitism above came from the USA State Department, an official definition. http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/fs/2010/122352.htm

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  4. Bernie Sanders’s time on a kibbutz affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair should be a proud talking point for the leftist candidate, not an embarrassment, A. Daniel Roth argues.

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  5. Bernie Sanders cites J Street and the Arab American Institute as his advisers on the Israel-Palestinian situations! I'm not kidding! Read: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/60899/bernie-sanders-cites-j-street-arab-american-institute-mideast-advisers-jerusalem/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=1ed9e0639e-BIN_evening_2_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-1ed9e0639e-83518689#4JT92fExWlJdzgFY.97 From the king of Jordan, I wouldn't be surprised, but an American-Jewish candidate for president? Oy Gevalt!!!

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  6. Interesting article: http://www.algemeiner.com/2016/02/12/who-cares-if-bernie-sanders-is-jewish/#comment-4491777

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  7. Wrong, wrong. Don't know where to begin. If you want the real truth about contemporary Israel, read Max Blumenthal, Norman Finkelstein, or Anna Baltzer, or see their videos on YouTube. All are Jews, so can't be dismissed as anti-Semites. Read Haaretz English online. I am happy and proud that Bernie is one of the few that has refused to drink the Kool-Aid of Netanyahu and the Likud. Just as only a Republican could open up China, perhaps our first Jewish president will wean Israel from America's teat.

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  8. Who's wrong? You are, completely. Norman Finkelstein is a buddy of Noam Chomsky, and they both bash Israel. I've had a connection to Chomsky through emails debating with him. He's impossible. Why have they taken such a position? They get attention that way.

    Read Joan Peter's book, "From Time Immemorial" to get some truths. Yes, even though they are Jewish, they also are anti-Semites; people that hate their own history. Bernie has just relied on their books instead of looking into facts for himself. Shame on Bernie! Being in such an important position as he is and to take a stand against Israel is incomprehensible without a lot more research than reading Finkelstein, of all people! If it wasn't for Likud with Netanyahu as Prime Minister, Israel could have been wiped out by now. Jeremy, we've waited for 2,000 years for this time to go back to our original land, and it was the right time.

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