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Bernie Sanders: United States cannot continue being an apologist for an increasingly right-wing and racist Netanyahu government.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bernie Sanders
info@berniesanders.com




In the midst of this terrible Israeli-Palestinian conflict, part of a multi-
decades long tragedy, I wanted to share with you an op-ed I recently wrote
for the New York Times.

The bottom line is that the United States cannot continue being an apologist
for an increasingly right-wing and racist Netanyahu government. Israel has
the absolute right to live in peace and security, without the fear of
terrorist attacks. But the Palestinian people must also enjoy the right to
live in peace, security and democracy.

At this moment, our most important task is to stop the bloodshed and
destruction. Please join me in demanding an immediate cease fire to the
violence which has already claimed more than 200 Palestinian and 10 Israeli
lives.

I hope you`ll read the op-ed below, and then sign my petition calling for an
immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine to prevent any further loss of
civilian life and to prevent further escalation of conflict.

The New York Times - Opinion - Guest Essay - Bernie Sanders: The U.S. Must
Stop Being an Apologist for the Netanyahu Government

“Israel has the right to defend itself.”

These are the words we hear from both Democratic and Republican
administrations whenever the government of Israel, with its enormous
military power, responds to rocket attacks from Gaza.

Let’s be clear. No one is arguing that Israel, or any government, does not
have the right to self-defense or to protect its people. So why are these
words repeated year after year, war after war? And why is the question
almost never asked: “What are the rights of the Palestinian people?”

And why do we seem to take notice of the violence in Israel and Palestine
only when rockets are falling on Israel?

In this moment of crisis, the United States should be urging an immediate
ceasefire. We should also understand that, while Hamas firing rockets into
Israeli communities is absolutely unacceptable, today’s conflict did not
begin with those rockets.

Palestinian families in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah have
been living under the threat of eviction for many years, navigating a legal
system designed to facilitate their forced displacement. And over the past
weeks, extremist settlers have intensified their efforts to evict them.

And, tragically, those evictions are just one part of a broader system of
political and economic oppression. For years we have seen a deepening
Israeli occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and a continuing
blockade on Gaza that make life increasingly intolerable for Palestinians.
In Gaza, which has about two million inhabitants, 70 percent of young people
are unemployed and have little hope for the future.

Further, we have seen Benjamin Netanyahu’s government work to marginalize
and demonize Palestinian citizens of Israel, pursue settlement policies
designed to foreclose the possibility of a two-state solution and pass laws
that entrench systemic inequality between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of
Israel.

None of this excuses the attacks by Hamas, which were an attempt to exploit
the unrest in Jerusalem, or the failures of the corrupt and ineffective
Palestinian Authority, which recently postponed long-overdue elections. But
the fact of the matter is that Israel remains the one sovereign authority in
the land of Israel and Palestine, and rather than preparing for peace and
justice, it has been entrenching its unequal and undemocratic control.

Over more than a decade of his right-wing rule in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu has
cultivated an increasingly intolerant and authoritarian type of racist
nationalism. In his frantic effort to stay in power and avoid prosecution
for corruption, Mr. Netanyahu has legitimized these forces, including Itamar
Ben Gvir and his extremist Jewish Power party, by bringing them into the
government. It is shocking and saddening that racist mobs that attack
Palestinians on the streets of Jerusalem now have representation in its
Knesset.

These dangerous trends are not unique to Israel. Around the world, in
Europe, in Asia, in South America and here in the United States, we have
seen the rise of similar authoritarian nationalist movements. These
movements exploit ethnic and racial hatreds in order to build power for a
corrupt few rather than prosperity, justice and peace for the many. For the
last four years, these movements had a friend in the White House.

At the same time, we are seeing the rise of a new generation of activists
who want to build societies based on human needs and political equality. We
saw these activists in American streets last summer in the wake of the
murder of George Floyd. We see them in Israel. We see them in the
Palestinian territories.

With a new president, the United States now has the opportunity to develop a
new approach to the world — one based on justice and democracy. Whether it
is helping poor countries get the vaccines they need, leading the world to
combat climate change or fighting for democracy and human rights around the
globe, the United States must lead by promoting cooperation over conflict.

In the Middle East, where we provide nearly $4 billion a year in aid to
Israel, we can no longer be apologists for the right-wing Netanyahu
government and its undemocratic and racist behavior. We must change course
and adopt an even-handed approach, one that upholds and strengthens
international law regarding the protection of civilians, as well as existing
U.S. law holding that the provision of U.S. military aid must not enable
human rights abuses.

This approach must recognize that Israel has the absolute right to live in
peace and security, but so do the Palestinians. I strongly believe that the
United States has a major role to play in helping Israelis and Palestinians
to build that future. But if the United States is going to be a credible
voice on human rights on the global stage, we must uphold international
standards of human rights consistently, even when it’s politically
difficult. We must recognize that Palestinian rights matter. Palestinian
lives matter.

Thank you for taking the time to read this op-ed.

Now, please sign my petition to join me in calling for an immediate
ceasefire in Israel and Palestine to prevent any further loss of civilian
life and to prevent further escalation of conflict.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders
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