Peter Beinart, writing in the Forward, is barely able to contain his excitement because Bernie Sanders tweeted out a 7-minute propaganda video about Gaza. It’s a full 7 minutes and 15 seconds of tedious “woe is us”, victim narrative whining about the conditions in Gaza with all the usual complaints and catch phrases. It also tries to claim that the recent “March of Return” protests really were a spontaneous outburst and it makes absolutely no attempt at impartiality.
The video is actually put out and branded as “Bernie Sanders VT” so this isn’t just a RT by Bernie, it’s something his team made up all by themselves. Here’s Peter:
In 2020, when Sanders likely runs for president, and journalists begin paying attention, they’re going to be shocked. The Israeli government and the American Jewish establishment will be scared out of their minds.
Last month, Sanders crossed one of the red lines demarcating politically acceptable Washington discourse about Israel. He organized the first letter written by multiple senators criticizing Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Then, last week, he raced past that line again with a video that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen from an American senator.
To understand how radical Sanders’ video is, it’s worth remembering how liberal Democrats like Barack Obama, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton talked about Israel and the Palestinians as recently as two years ago. While Obama, Kerry and Clinton did sometimes criticize Israeli policy, they generally did so in the language of Israeli self-interest, not of Palestinian human rights. Israeli settlement policy was bad for Israel, they argued, because it threatened Israel’s future as a democratic Jewish state.
Peter then goes on to breathlessly tell you in prose what’s in the video. At great length. Tedious, repetitive, great length. Such great length, that, just as with this paragraph, you’re already hoping it will come to an end. And then, mercifully, because it’s a painful as an Israeli checkpoint, it does.
You know what the video lacks? Any context whatsoever for Israeli actions. Any mention of a decade of rocket fire, the complete and unbelievably painful removal (by force) of all Jews who were living in Gaza, the years of suicide bombings from Gaza that came before. The vast wealth transferred to Gaza to help its population which instead went to fund Hamas’s genocidal attempts to kill Jews. None of that appears in 7 tedious minutes or Peter Beinart’s description.
Peter ends thusly:
Bernie Sanders, who now stands a better chance of becoming president than any Jew in American history, is not afraid. And, as a result, over the next two years he just might alter the American debate over Israel in ways we have not witnessed in decades.
Perhaps the courage of the protesters in Gaza is proving contagious after all.
As we know, Hamas is proud that the majority of those killed while throwing themselves at the Israeli border, are their terrorist members. Peter Beinart seems to be saying he’s proud that Bernie Sanders has the courage of terrorists and that will make him electable in two years time.
Good luck with that. But it will be a real shame if left-wing American Jews still think any Democrat like this is a viable choice for their vote.
