New York (CNN) Bernie Sanders is taking a sledgehammer to the political status quo on Israel.
Sanders refused to back down Thursday night from his claim that Israel in 2014 used "disproportionate" force to respond to Hamas rocket fire from Gaza while calling for the United States to stop being "one-sided" in the conflict there. In doing so, he upended a long-standing tenet of American politics: that unflinching support for Israel is non-negotiable.
Sanders' unorthodox remarks at CNN's Democratic debate came just days before voters head to the polls in New York, where Sanders is fighting to narrow the significant, but not insurmountable, deficit he faces against former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The Empire State's 19.79 million residents include the country's largest Jewish population -- some 1.8 million of the country's 6.8 million Jews live there, according to the 2014 American Jewish Year Book -- and one of the most active pro-Israel constituencies.
Sanders' nationally televised stance could represent a watershed moment in Democratic politics, as the sole Jewish candidate in the race -- and only one to have lived in Israel -- smashed a taboo that could lead others to follow suit.Indeed, a potential shift in the party's position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been brewing, with signs of ferment bubbling to the surface in recent years amid the rancorous relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Oh, please. What's so "extraordinary" about a Socialist windbag with a moral superiority complex demonstrating his bien pensant bona fides by railing against the object of the hard left's derision?CNN political commentator Van Jones, a former Obama political aide, said Thursday night that Sanders' focus on Palestinian rights during the debate was "extraordinary."...
What's extraordinary is that anyone would think it's extraordinary.
Also--consider the C.V. of the man who hails Bernie's focus on "Palestinian rights." It would be extraordinary, indeed, if he supported Israel in any way, shape or form.
Bernie Sanders may have been born Jewish but his campaign has been curiously hostile to Jews and Israel. His campaign is dominated by members of the radical left who may find individual Jews on the left to be acceptable, but who possess an active dislike for the Jewish community as a whole.
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