Clintonites knocked out platform opposition to 'occupation' and 'set...

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/07/clintonites-opposition-settlements/

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The War of Ideas in the Middle East

Clintonites knocked out platform references to occupation and settlements in fear

of Adelson, Zogby says
Philip Weiss (http://mondoweiss.net/author/philweiss/) on July 25, 2016

18 Comments (http://mondoweiss.net/2016/07/clintonites-opposition-settlements/#comments)

Sheldon Adelson

Clintonites on the Democratic Party platform committee knocked out condemnations of Israeli
settlements and occupation from the platform out of fear of Sheldon Adelson, a Sanders rep on that
committee said today in Philadelphia.
James Zogby of the Arab American Institute spoke at a panel (http://afsc.org/hangouts/progressive-palestineus-ready-to-rethink-policy-israel)convened by the US Campaign to End the Occupation and the American

Friends Service Committee alongside the Democratic convention. He said that he and other Sanders
delegates to the platform committee had a simple plan going into the platform debates: to remove a
reference in the platform (https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform7.21.16-no-lines.pdf ) to Jerusalem being the undivided capital of Israel and also strike the platforms

opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).

But they lost on those points, and their strategy was off. The fight was instead to knock out Sanderssponsored language opposing occupation and settlements, and the Sanders side lost.
Zogby:

Frankly we wanted to strike the BDS line out, strike out the line on Jerusalem, I thought that
would be the fight.I had no idea the fight would end up being over occupation and settlements.
And what occurred to me was that, as I looked around the table at the folks who were there,some
of whom are good people, and smart policy peopleis that something happens in this game
where they take their policy brain out and put it some place, I aint telling you where. and they
substitute their politics brain, which they think is a smart brain. We cant do it because its
Heres what they told me. We cant do it because Sheldon Adelson will come out against us. Jesus
hes going to come out against you no matter what you do.And the people who like Sheldon
Adelson, theyre not going to vote for you.

Sheldon Adelson is an 82-year-old Republican (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/sheldon-adelson-gop-donorssidelines-221765) who is supporting Trump in this election, and who supported Newt Gingrich and Mitt

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Clintonites knocked out platform opposition to 'occupation' and 'set...

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/07/clintonites-opposition-settlements/

Romney in the last cycle.

These members of the platform committee were speaking of the Jewish politics of the issue. They know that
Jews give a gigantic and shocking amount of the money that Democratic candidates rely on, according
to a J Street panel of experts this spring (http://mondoweiss.net/2016/04/forward-columnist-and-emilys-list-leader-relategigantic-shocking-role-of-jewish-democratic-donors/),and that Sheldon Adelson, who called on President Obama to nuke
Iran, (http://mondoweiss.net/2013/10/adelson-nuclear-negotiate/) is little different from a lot of other older Jews

who regard Israel as a great thing. Indeed, Adelson has teamed up with (http://mondoweiss.net/2014/11
/billionaires-sheldon-adelson/) Clinton megadonor Haim Saban in support of Israel. So the Clintonites were

afraid that older Jews will not give money to the Democratic Party, and withdraw their votes too, if the
platform didnt grovel to Israel. Thats what went down.
Zogby said the irony is that Bernie Sanders waswas actually playing to his base by talking about
Palestine. Young people, liberals, people of color they all increasingly support Palestine.
On Wednesday, the Arab American Institute will release polling, Zogby said, that shows how much the
American public has changed on the issue and how much it approves of boycott.
On the boycott issue Is boycotting Israel a legitimate tool to use to stop them from building settlements?
Democrats say yes overwhelmingly,47 to 14, and the rest are unsure.
The numbers arent bad on the Republican side either: 42-24.
The poll also showed that a majority of Americans for the first time have an opinion that too much
foreign aid goes to Israel, thats something that we never saw before, he said to applause.
And Zogby spoke of Sanderss achievement in changing the discourse of Palestine:

It took the work of a mass movement and a courageous person like Bernie Sanders. Because
remember if Bernie hadnt elevated it, it wouldnt have happeend

He gave us a qualitative boost forward. Now the question is, What do we do? And my feeling is,
That we dont let it go. The conversation is beginning again and it cannot end. It cannot be
where we put it back on hold again for another 20 years. The lives of people in the region cannot
tolerate that. I think American interests Americas ability to function in the world When we
fight for Palestine, we make America better, we make America smart, we make America save
itself.Were going to help America save itself whether it wants to or not!

I refuse to let the Palestinian people take a back seat again to any other conflict. Its happened
way too many times. We heard that shit during the first Gulf War in 1990-1991. Cant talk about
it because we have to fight this war. After the war well get to it. After the after the Never get
to it. This issue must be dealt with!

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