The only presidential candidate who spoke any real truth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Monday was the one who did not attend the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the country’s largest pro-Israel group.
Instead of delivering his remarks in Washington to an audience of 18,000 AIPAC supporters, as his rivals did, Senator Bernie Sanders gave his Middle East speech in Utah, where he was campaigning, and was also interviewed on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes.
The contrast with his competitors could not have been starker — and not just because he declined an invitation to attend the AIPAC gala, usually a command performance for any serious candidate. Mr. Sanders is the only Jewish candidate in the race and once spent several months living on an Israeli kibbutz. He was also the only candidate courageous enough on Monday to criticize Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s right-wing prime minister, and to show any understanding of Palestinian needs.
Like his rivals, Mr. Sanders, in his speech, emphasized a long-standing American commitment to “work tirelessly to advance the cause of peace as a partner and as a friend to Israel.”
But unlike the others, he also stressed that “to be successful, we have also got to be a friend not only to Israel, but to the Palestinian people” and noted that “in Gaza unemployment today is 44 percent and we have a poverty rate which is almost as high.”
He endorsed a negotiated two-state solution as the only chance for peace and declared that such an outcome “will require compromises on both sides.” That means an unconditional recognition of Israel’s right to exist, an end to all attacks against Israel, and a renunciation of violence by Hamas and Hezbollah, Mr. Sanders said.
Peace also must mean benefits for the Palestinians, including security, self-determination, civil rights, economic wellbeing, an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and an end to the blockade of Gaza, he said.
Senator Sanders strongly condemned rocket attacks by Hamas against Israel, but he also faulted the Israeli counter attacks in the last Gaza war that killed nearly 1,500 civilians and wounded thousands more.
On MSNBC, he was even more blunt, arguing that “the overreaction and the destruction of Gaza went too, too far” and that “we just cannot be 100 percent supportive of people like Netanyahu and ignore the rest of the region.”
He certainly knew such even-handed and honest talk would not go down well with many at AIPAC, and maybe that’s why he stayed away. But his comments are in line with the policies of current and past administrations of both American political parties. “These are difficult subjects. They are hard to talk about for many Americans and for Israelis,” he admitted in his speech, adding: “But it is clear to me that the path towards peace will require tapping into our shared humanity to make hard but just decisions.”
For now, Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts are undeniably stuck. Any American president who wants to make progress will have to heed Senator Sanders’s courageous words.
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