The vilification of Bernie Sanders
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
We’re witnessing the Corbynification of Senator Bernie Sanders.
His long career is being raked over for – wait for it – criticisms of Israel and support for the Palestinians on which he has a long and honourable record.
They are being exploited to argue that he isn’t a “real” Jew and is possibly a closet antisemite, shown most recently by his refusal to support criminalising the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement.
This article was originally published by Mondoweiss on Tue 24 Dec 2019. Read the original here.
Campaign against Sanders on ‘antisemitism’ for his criticism of Israel begins in earnest
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I love Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn and hate to see this vile, vicious propaganda about them. We have to be very vigilant against the far right and their racist policies. We must have hope and courage for what lies ahead.
Bernie Sanders is not a US Jeremy Corbyn.
Sanders’ “socialism” is centre/left for most Western countries; Corbyn’s socialism is informed by communism and by antagonism towards the West.
Sanders is a Zionist, as are nearly 100% of Jews, and he therefore supports the secure existence of Israel as a Jewish State, however he is rightly critical of many aspects of its government and military actions; Corbyn despises the Jewish State as such and openly encouraged those who work diplomatically or militarily for its demise.
Sanders is not regarded as an antisemite by most Jews; Corbyn, with his consistent bitter hostility towards Israel during decades of public life, is regarded by nearly all Jews worldwide as an antisemite notwithstanding having displayed empathy towards local Jews on many occasions. Someone should have explained that to him but he’s history now, whereas Sanders is not.
Sanders is creating a problem for himself by his unwise association with Sarsour. In the US context it’s potentially as poisonous for him as Corbyn’s association with organisations like Hamas or Islamic Jihad, so Bernie would do well to shake off Linda Sarsour if he gets the nomination.