Video: Ali Abunimah on Sanders, Clinton and the Palestinians

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Video: Ali Abunimah on Sanders, Clinton and the Palestinians

April 17th, 2016

Awake Goy

Today I spoke to Sharmini Peries of The Real News about the robust confrontation over Israel between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton at Thursday night’s Democratic debate.

Watch the video above.

Sanders criticized Israel’s 2014 attack on Gaza as “disproportionate” and leveled other criticisms of Israel and US support for it rarely voiced by American politicians.

“If we are ever going to bring peace to that region which has seen so much hatred and so much war, we are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity,” Sanders said to loud applause.

“There comes a time when if we pursue justice and peace, we are going to have to say that Netanyahu is not right all of the time,” Sanders said, referring to the Israeli prime minister.

“We cannot continue to be one-sided,” Sanders added. “There are two sides to the issue.”

Clinton, meanwhile, deployed debunked talking points to justify Israel’s mass killing in Gaza.

We spoke about the limitations of Sanders’ statements and what the still unprecedented exchange tells us about shifts in US attitudes towards the question of Palestine. We also spoke about the growing support for BDS – boycott, divestment and sanctions.

I also highly recommend my colleague Rania Khalek’s analysis of the Clinton-Sanders debate.

Comments

excellent commentary

Permalink tom hall replied on Sat, 04/16/2016 – 16:01

Thanks, Ali. Well prepared, and well delivered. And I think you’re right- Sanders is being driven to speak out- however inadequately- for Palestinian rights by pressure from his supporters and a dawning realization throughout the country that Israel is the culprit in this conflict (Israel and successive U.S. administrations, that is). I look forward to more appearances from you on the Real News.