Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon spoke to Mishpacha a short while after he publicly denounced Sanders at AIPAC

Photo: AP Images

Although AIPAC’s annual policy conference this year was, as usual, well-attended — 18,000 passed through the turnstiles of the Washington Convention Center — the gathering was almost more notable for who wasn’t there.

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, and all the Democratic presidential candidates still in the race then — save for Michael Bloomberg — gave the gathering a pass. There was a lackluster feeling hanging over the hall, as both guests and journalists kept one eye on what was happening in the plenary and breakout sessions and the other on their mobile devices, monitoring the scrolling headlines.

And if all this wasn’t enough, Senator Bernie Sanders’s public spat with AIPAC cast a pall over what should have been a festive mood. After the Jewish senator from Vermont and Democratic front-runner announced he would boycott the event, and suggested that those who attended were “bigots,” AIPAC CEO Howard Kohr vowed the Israel lobby would “defeat” those who try to harm US-Israel relations.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon spoke to Mishpacha a short while after he publicly denounced Sanders at AIPAC.

“There are facts that can’t be glossed over,” he told Mishpacha. “Just as in Britain, [Jeremy] Corbyn was a problematic candidate and we expressed an opinion, Mr. Sanders is now also attacking Israel’s prime minister — calling him racist and reactionary. We can’t stand by quietly after this. We’ll continue working with both parties and all candidates, but if there’s a candidate with problematic views, there’s no reason we should take it sitting down.”

Meanwhile he’s responded to you, saying he’s for Israel living in security and peace, but you can’t favor only Israel.

“You have to look at the broader tendency of what he says. You look at his remarks about AIPAC, you look at his remarks about cutting aid to Israel, you look at his remarks about the prime minister. There’s a trend here, a problematic trend that needs to be exposed. I said what I said very directly.”

What does it mean to be bipartisan when it comes to Israel? Is there such a thing any longer?

“We need to work with everyone, and it’s possible, it happens. But certainly, when it comes to fringe elements from both right and left, we don’t have to keep quiet. We need to express a clear position. That’s the line I take with ambassadors from various countries who incite against Israel. The fact that Mr. Sanders responded to what I said shows he understands that his words have a price. Suddenly the tone has changed. Today he’s a candidate in the Democratic primaries whom many Jewish leaders have said they can’t accept. And this isn’t a partisan position, even liberals talk about it.”

Former vice president Joe Biden, fresh off his electoral victory in South Carolina, also addressed AIPAC in a taped video address. While he emphasized his support for keeping Israel safe from terror, he also struck a position on settlements that was reminiscent of the Obama era, drawing a moral equivalence between rocket attacks from Gaza and building settlement homes in the West Bank.

“You don’t have to be anti-Palestinian to be pro-Israeli,” he said. “Israeli and Palestinian children are equally deserving of safety, security, and an opportunity to pursue their dreams. We all need to work together to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, because there is a crisis, and we’re not going to achieve that future if we don’t condemn steps on both sides that take us further from peace.

“Palestinians need to eradicate incitement on the West Bank. They need to end the rocket attacks from Gaza. They need to accept once and for all the reality and the right of a secure democratic and Jewish state of Israel in the Middle East,” said Biden.

“And Israel has to stop the threats of annexation and settlement activity like the recent announcement of building thousands of settlements in E-1,” he added, referring to Israel’s plans to build thousands of homes on that strategic plateau outside Maaleh Adumim. “That’s going to choke off any hope for peace. And to be frank, those moves are taking Israel further from its democratic values, undermining support for Israel in the United States, especially among young people of both political parties. That’s dangerous. We can’t let that happen.”

In contrast, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, the only Democratic presidential candidate to address the policy conference in person, struck a strong pro-Israel and pro-Jewish tone in his remarks. He recalled fondly his many trips to what he called “the miracle that is the modern State of Israel,” condemned strongly rising anti-Semitism across the world, and assured the crowd that he will always back Israel’s security.

“For as long as Israel has existed, terrorists have threatened our ancestral homeland,” he said to loud applause. “If I am elected president, I can promise you that I will always have Israel’s back. I will never impose conditions on military aid, no matter what government is in power.”

Taking aim at fellow candidate Sanders, Bloomberg said: “Sanders has spent 30 years boycotting this event. Let me tell you, he’s dead wrong.”

Bloomberg added that he would keep the United States embassy in Jerusalem — “where it belongs.”

Among the thousands of everyday Israel supporters who attend AIPAC, there are also a good number of elected officials. As I headed up on an escalator on Sunday afternoon, I spotted Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) heading down. A Jewish congressman and chair of a House subcommittee on Middle Eastern affairs, Deutch is a regular at AIPAC.

“The importance of the AIPAC meeting every year is the reminder that it provides not just to the thousands of people here, but to America as a whole, that support for Israel is strong,” he told me. “It’s bipartisan and it hasn’t wavered.”

He also said he doesn’t believe the fight against Sanders is the end of bipartisanship at the organization. “The crowd here is comprised of thousands of people, Democrats and Republicans, all of them passionately committed to advancing the US-Israel relationship. That’s evidence of the strong support that exists for the US-Israel relationship.”

Elsewhere in the vast Washington Convention Center, I ran into Rabbi Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch. Perhaps the best-known rabbi in the capital, Rabbi Shemtov is responsible for lighting the Chanukah menorah at the White House as well as kashrus in the White House kitchens. I was interested to hear his perspective about the open tension between AIPAC and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

“AIPAC is more important now than ever before,” Rabbi Shemtov told Mishpacha. “And to see that after all the attacks upon it throughout time, they’re still strong enough to draw this large a crowd is very encouraging.

“I am not political, but anyone in their right mind… would have to respond forcefully to something like what Senator Sanders said.”

And if Sanders is the nominee?

“If he’s going to be the nominee, he will undoubtedly modify some of his positions,” Rabbi Shemtov added. “And once he does that, then AIPAC will make whatever decision they make. Obviously in the current state, they’ll probably find it hard to support him, but AIPAC has been, is, and probably always will remain a bipartisan organization. And even though there’ve been bumps in the road for them keeping to that, they’ve always managed to overcome the challenges, and I hope the same will happen this time as well.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 801)