Tagged Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders’ new movement endorses candidates with a range of Israel views

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waving on the day of the New Hampshire primary in Concord, New Hampshire, Feb. 9, 2016. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Florida state senator caught up in a boycott-Israel controversy. A Wisconsin state representative who combated anti-Israel bias on his campus. The diversity of Israel-related outlooks among the 63 candidates endorsed by Our Revolution underscores the eclecticism of the left-leaning movement launched last week by Bernie… Read more »

In courting Kissinger, does Hillary Clinton risk losing the left?

Hillary Clinton, then the U.S. secretary of state, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger being interviewed by Charlie Rose at the State Department in Washington, D.C., April 20, 2011. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – If Hillary Clinton is indeed courting Henry Kissinger, what happens to her relationship with Bernie Sanders? Reports that the Democratic presidential nominee is actively pursuing endorsements from Kissinger, who like her is a former secretary of state, and other former Republican officials have raised alarms on… Read more »

Uneasy Republicans and confident Democrats diverge on ‘Jewish’ issues

Donald Trump speaking on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, July 21, 2016 (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

NEW YORK  (JTA) — It’s never been easy for Jewish Republicans. Jews have broken overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates since Woodrow Wilson. Despite rising American Jewish affluence, usually a harbinger of conservative voting patterns, a plurality self-defines as liberal. Republican Jews have poured millions into upping their share of the Jewish… Read more »

ANALYSIS On her big night, Hillary Clinton stresses Israel’s security, not the quest for peace

Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, July 28, 2016. (Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)

It was Hillary Clinton’s night, but the Rev. William Barber II was the sleeper star. The self-described “theologically conservative, liberal, evangelical biblicist” drew repeated, enthusiastic applause –including when he described Jesus as a brown-skinned Palestinian Jew and declared that “when we love the Jewish child and the Palestinian child… Read more »

Democrats scramble for a unique message that appeals to Jewish millennials

Shabbos Kestenbaum, 17, attending a breakfast for the Virginia delegation to the Democratic National Convention, July 26, 2016. (Ron Kampeas)

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Amanda Renteria, the national political director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was running through the campaign’s messages for minorities and women: immigration for Hispanics, land use for Native Americans, various policies for defending children and women. She didn’t mention Jews in her briefing Tuesday morning for specialty media, and there’s… Read more »

Democrats seek unity on Israel, but cracks begin to show

Florida State Sen. Dwight Bullard, wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh, or headscarf, said Palestinians should have the right to citizenship in Israel. He visited the West Bank and Israel in May as part of a delegation from the Black Lives Matter movement. (Ben Sales)

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The Democratic Party has spent the first couple days of its convention projecting unity on issues from fighting racism to fair trade. But fissures are showing here on one issue that Democrats have long been united on: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their party, which has long commanded… Read more »

Bernie Sanders wants his delegates to back Clinton. They’re not listening.

Bernie Sanders supporters gathering at City Hall in downtown Philadelphia on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, July 25, 2016. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Bernie Sanders’ delegates are going to raise hell on the floor of the Democratic National Convention, his own wishes be damned. “Change that’s worth a damn always comes from the bottom up, not from the top,” said Norman Solomon, coordinator of the Bernie Delegates Network, an… Read more »

ANALYSIS After playing anti-Semitism card against Trump, Wasserman Schultz sunk by aides’ anti-Bernie emails

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, speaking to a reporter before the Democratic Party debate in Manchester, N.H., Dec. 19, 2015. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Just last week, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was playing the anti-Semitism card against Donald Trump. But in a startling turnaround, on the eve of her own party’s convention, it’s the South Florida congresswoman who is out as chair of the Democratic National Committee — over a… Read more »

6 things to know about Jill Stein, the last Jewish presidential candidate standing

Jill Stein announcing that she will seek the Green Party's presidential nomination, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., June 23, 2015. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Voters who have their hearts set on supporting a left-wing secular Jew running an insurgent campaign still have a candidate. Jill Stein, the 2012 Green Party candidate, is making another run. And this year, with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both earning historically low popularity… Read more »

A reflective Bernie Sanders, acknowledging Clinton as nominee, talks Trump, Larry David and what moved him to tears

Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders greet each other at the CNN presidential debate in Brooklyn, N.Y., April 14, 2016. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Acknowledging for the first time that he will not be the Democratic presidential nominee, Bernie Sanders said he was not yet ready to endorse Hillary Clinton. In an expansive interview aired June 22 on C-Span, Sanders said he hoped to speak at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia… Read more »

Dems’ panel drafting platform includes critics of Israel, friends of Israel — and a BDS backer

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, left, embracing philosopher and social activist Cornel West in Des Moines, Iowa, Nov. 14, 2015. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Democratic Party platform drafting committee is top heavy with veterans of political battles over Israel — some friendly, some critical, and including at least one major backer of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The Democratic National Committee named the committee on Monday, a day… Read more »

After weeks of brickbats, Bernie Sanders offers Hillary Clinton a bouquet

Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders greet each other at the CNN Presidential Debate in Brooklyn, N.Y., April 14, 2016. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The combative tone in Bernie Sanders’ campaign statements faded on Tuesday evening to a softer pitch of suasion. “I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victories tonight, and I look forward to issue-oriented campaigns in the 14 contests to come,” Sanders’ statement began after his rival for… Read more »

Maryland’s wild primary and other snapshots from the ‘other’ Super Tuesday

Reps. Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards participating in a Democratic forum at the Woodlawn Senior Center in Gwynn Oak, Md., April 9, 2016. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Maryland goes to the polls Tuesday – one of five states where the two remaining candidates in the Democratic presidential race and the three in the Republican race are facing off. The headline: It’s the new Super Tuesday, at least for the Democrats. This could be… Read more »

OP-ED Bernie Sanders is simply better for America, for Israel and the world

Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally at Bronx Community College in New York City, April 9, 2016. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — On Nov. 8, 2016, if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, I expect to be voting enthusiastically for Clinton for president. One reason is that she’s so competent. Another is that the Republicans are so awful. In fact, I can’t think of a modern-day… Read more »

Sanders campaign’s new Jewish outreach director is outspoken critic of Israeli occupation

Simone Zimmerman says her fellow millennials "are angry" about what is happening in Israel. (Courtesy of J Street)

NEW YORK (JTA) – Simone Zimmerman, the Bernie Sanders campaign’s newly hired national Jewish outreach coordinator, is quite familiar with the American Jewish establishment. She is used to fighting against it. During the 2014 Gaza war, Zimmerman was one of the leaders of a group of young Jews that held… Read more »

Debra Messing, matzah baking, bashert making — what to expect ahead of the New York primary

Campaigning in New York, clockwise from left: Donald Trump greeting the crowd in Bethpage, Long Island, April 6, 2016 (Washington Post via Getty Images); a sign at a Bernie Sanders event in Brooklyn, March 31, 2016 (D Dipasupil/WireImage/Getty Images); Ted Cruz signing an autograph in the Bronx, April 6, 2016 (Bryan Thomas/Getty Images); Hillary Clinton swiping a MetroCard at a Bronx subway, April 7, 2016 (Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images).

WASHINGTON (JTA) – For the first time in decades New York, politically, is about to live up to its “make it here, make it anywhere” promise. The vast state and its huge Jewish community –nearly 2 million, or just under 10 percent of the population — have not figured… Read more »

5 things to look out for at the AIPAC confab

  WASHINGTON (JTA) – Here are five things to watch for at this year’s annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is taking place here March 19-22: It’s Yoooooooooge. Organizers are expecting 18,000 activists, 3,000 more than last year, the largest number ever. So large, for… Read more »

Bernie Sanders turns down invitation to address AIPAC confab

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Citing his campaign schedule, Bernie Sanders said he would not address AIPAC’s conference next week, making him the only presidential candidate that will not attend the large annual pro-Israel gathering this year. “I would very much have enjoyed speaking at the AIPAC conference,” Sanders said in a… Read more »

With Trump’s latest wins, will Jewish conservatives finally embrace him?

Donald Trump speaking at a primary night news conference in Palm Beach, Fla., March 15, 2016. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

  By WASHINGTON (JTA) — Has Donald Trump’s time come, and will Jewish political conservatives embrace him? Trump, the real estate magnate and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, rolled closer to victory on Tuesday with wins in at least three primary states. His strong showing, earning 161 delegates or more depending on… Read more »