If you are proud to be Jewish, you are not at all special. A vast majority of Jews in the two largest Jewish communities in today’s world – Israel and America – are proud to be Jewish. That is, 93% of Israeli Jews and 94% of American Jews. We now know that Bernie Sanders is one of them. He told a heckler, who expressed anti-Semitic sentiments, that he is proud. The crowd at a Harlem event cheered.
“I am proud to be Jewish”, he said, “but…” Yes, there was a “but” immediately following his statement of pride. He also said that he is “a strong defender of Israel”, and, again, added a “but.” Apparently, in Sanders’ book one can not just be proud to be Jewish, period. Or just be a defender of Israel, period. One cannot be those two things without one instantly declaring to “also believe that we have got to pay attention to the needs of the Palestinians” – lest anyone suspects that Sanders is the kind of Jew who does not care about the Palestinians, or the kind of pro-Israeli who does not see the needs of the Palestinians. Lest anyone thinks that he is one of these “bad Jews.”
In truth, there was no connection – none – between what Sanders was asked (“the Zionist Jews run the Federal Reserve, they run Wall Street, they run every campaign”) and his response. The heckler was talking about Jewish power in the US, and Sanders responded by talking about Israel and the Palestinians. I assume this was not Sanders’ intention, but what he did was to divert an anti-Semitic smear away from him and onto Israel.
And of course, I do not see any reason to assume that Sanders has such dark thoughts about Israel, but I also don’t see any reason to assume that this was merely a misunderstanding. Sanders, in recent days, has decided that trashing Israel is good for him. Admitting his obvious error in making the preposterous claim that Israel killed 10,000 innocent Palestinians in Gaza, he kept talking in interviews and rallies about Israel’s “disproportionate” response to rocket attacks.
Israel, he says, “has the right to live in freedom, independently and in security without having to be subjected to terrorist attacks.” What a noble position: Israelis also believe that the US has the right to live in freedom, independently and in security without having to be subjected to terrorist attacks. Needless to say – or maybe it needs to be said – that such a belief amounts to nothing if Sanders’ guideline book does not include a mechanism by which a country can respond to terrorism and attempt to prevent it.
Every time Sanders talks about his support of Israel’s obvious rights, you know that this “but” is soon coming. As in: “Of course we are going to support Israel, but you cannot ignore the needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza right now.” And of course it is quite interesting that Sanders has such concern about the plight of the Palestinian people. Is this the same Sanders that warned time and again against getting Americans “involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East”? Is this the same Sanders whose voters are the most inclined to say that “U.S. efforts to solve problems around the world usually end up making things worse?” Is this the Sanders who spends little time in talking about world affairs and shows little interest in world affairs? Is this the Sanders who does not want to be “the policeman of the world” (a lack of desire that miraculously disappears as Sanders considers the misery of the Palestinians)?
“You can't just be only concerned about Israel's needs. You have to be concerned about the needs of all of the people of the region,” the candidate said. As if anyone wants him to “be only concerned about Israel’s needs.” As if anyone asked him to “be only concerned about Israel’s needs.” As if by hinting that pro-Israelis in America are “only concerned about Israel’s needs” Sanders is not guilty of an offence somewhat comparable to the one of the heckler who paints all Jews with a tribal stereotype.
Proud to be Jewish? Well, Sanders is surely proud of something, as long as we all understand that he will not be one of those Jews running Wall Street, disproportionally responding to rocket attacks, or only concerned about themselves.
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