Pro-Israel Dems to Bernie: Disavow anti-Zionists, anti-Semites

With Democratic voters heading to the polls on Super Tuesday, a simmering intraparty ideological conflict over Israel and Palestine has flared anew following a report in The Daily Caller of an endorsement of Bernie Sanders by Dream Defenders, a controversial left-wing activist group critics decry as anti-Israel. 

In addition to denouncing police and prisons as racist institutions incompatible with justice, Dream Defenders has supported the anti-Israel boycott, divest and sanctions movement (BDS) and, in an educational resource guide, hailed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as anti-imperialist warriors for liberation and equality “just like the Dream Defenders.”

The State Department has formally designated the PFLP a terrorist organization. 

Jewish Democratic leaders called for Sanders to disavow the endorsement and distance himself from associating with groups and individuals they say are anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. 

“Senator Sanders erroneously says he is 100 percent pro-Israel, but he has surounded himself with campaign officials and endorsers who are absolutely opposed to Israel, and that is a grave and serious concern for us,” said Mark Mellman, president and CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel. “Promoting those people on your campaign and reaching out is actually very divisive at a time when Democrats need to be united to defeat Donald Trump.”

“I’d love to see Bernie Sanders reject the Dream Defenders, but his entire campaign is predicated on the support of racist anti-Semites,” said Josh Block, former CEO and president of the Israel Project and long-time spokesman for the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which held its annual conference this week in Washington. 

“If American Jews don’t recognize that Bernie is a distinct, real threat, then they’re not paying attention,” said Block. “Romance with Bernie Sanders is different than the reality of the Sanders campaign and his movement, which is full of extremists.” 

Neither Dream Defenders nor the Sanders campaign responded to requests for comment about the Dream Defenders endorsement.

A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign denounced the endorsement by Dream Defenders.

“Democrats have continuously embraced and defended the most vitriolic anti-Semites in their midst, so it’s not surprising that the Sanders campaign has fully embraced the endorsement of this radical group,” Sarah Matthews, Trump campaign deputy press secretary, told Just the News. 

“In stark contrast, there is no bigger ally to the Jewish community at home and around the world than President Trump,” said Matthews. “He tore up the disastrous Iran Deal, moved the U.S. embassy to its rightful place in Jerusalem, withdrew the U.S. from the U.N. Human Rights Council due to its strong anti-Israel bias, and signed an executive order that acknowledges anti-Semitism as hate. While anti-Semitism continues to plague the Democratic party, President Trump is a champion for the Jewish community. We look forward to talking to Jewish voters about that contrast as well as the president’s record of success.” 

After the 2018 massacre of Jews at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagoue, Dream Defenders posted a statement on its website condeming anti-Semitism along with other forms of bigotry and hatred it claimed were being stoked by the Trump White House in order to frighten and divide Americans.

Gallup polling has noted an increase in support among liberal Democrats over the past two decades for the Palestinian Authority, the interim self-governing body within the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank. 

“While liberal Democrats are no less favorable toward Israel today than they have been over the past two decades, they have grown more favorable toward the Palestinians and, perhaps as a result, less likely to side with Israel in the conflict,” wrote Gallup’s Lydia Saad in a report issued last year. “Democrats have grown more favorable toward the Palestinian Authority than they were in the early 2000s, while the views of all Republican ideologies are close to the baseline time-period.”

There has been a decline among Democrats over the same span in “net sympathies toward Israel — the percentage who sympathize more with Israel minus those sympathizing more with the Palestinians,” said Saad. But more recently, she added, “most of the decline in net sympathy for Israel has occurred among liberal Democrats, from +17 in 2013-2016 to +3 in 2017-2019. What this means is that nearly as many liberal Democrats now sympathize more with the Palestinians (38%) as with the Israelis (41%), with the rest favoring neither side or unsure.”

In Israel, Gil Hoffman, the Jerusalem Post's chief political correspondent, said Israelis are generally upset at the prospect of a Sanders presidency.

“There’s no doubt that Bernie Sanders is persona non grata in Israel, and it’s terrifying to Israelis that Americans would choose someone like him to head a mainstream political party,” Hoffman told Just the News. “They hope that American Democrats reach a strategic alliance with a more mainstream candidate.”

Even while criticizing Sanders, Hoffman said the candidate’s positions were “fringe” within the Democratic Party and cautioned Israel supporters against partisanship.

“Israel remains a bipartisan issue, despite outliers like Bernie Sanders,” Hoffman said. “I think Israel will always remain a bipartisan issue. Those who try to make Israel into a Republican thing are actually hurting Israel. We need to keep that bipartisan relationship alive desperately.”