○ Rashida Tlaib dodges questions about pro-Israel endorsement
○ Lobbyists push for Israel anti-boycott law in end-of-year spending bill | JPost |
○ Oppose the amended Israel Anti-Boycott Act (IABA)

Feinstein, Sanders urge Senate not to include anti-BDS law in spending bill | Times of Israel |

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sanders and Feinstein said that while they oppose the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS), they were committed to "defend the right of every American to express their views peacefully without fear of or actual punishment by the government."

They noted the American Civil Liberties Union's opposition to the bill, and the fact that similar bills targeting boycotters of Israel had been blocked by courts in Kansas and Arizona.

By penalizing political activity that targets only Israeli West Bank settlements, the argued, lawmakers would be "extending US legal protection to the very settlements the United States has opposed as illegitimate and harmful to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace for more than 50 years."

At a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government "is pursuing policies clearly aimed at foreclosing the two-state solution, it is deeply disappointing that Congress would consider penalizing criticism of those policies."

J Street, the liberal Mideast advocacy group, applauded the two senators' letter, calling the legislation a "misguided" effort that "extends US legal protections to settlements, infringes on First Amendment rights and hurts, rather than helps, efforts to counter the BDS movement.

○ Bernie's Socialism and Kibbutz Experience of '63
○ Decolonizing Jewishness: On Jewish Liberation in the 21st Century

From an earlier comment of mine @BooMan in story - Sanders and AIPAC  ...

Shame on You! (3.86 / 7)

"Given the conditions in the Middle East, especially in Syria, and the current leadership vacuum on the Palestinian side, and the periodic ISIS-sponsored terror attacks in the West, I think Clinton is taking the shrewder political position here. That doesn't mean I like it. But the same old progressive critique of Israel is beginning to look a bit torn and frayed as both the Arabs and Israelis have changed the facts on the ground in the region.

I mean, can you really look at Libya and Iraq and Syria, and the Palestinian political landscape, and the leadership of Egypt and Turkey and Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and see in that some ripeness for the idea of a Palestinian State?"

The blog has gone from a green pasture to drought in a mere three years ...

'Sapere aude'