Clinton says she opposes boycott effort against Israel
Source: AP
By KEN THOMAS
WASHINGTON (AP) Hillary Rodham Clinton says in a letter to American Jewish organizations that she opposes a grassroots protest movement promoting boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel over policies involving the Palestinian territories.
Clinton said in the letter released Monday that she agreed on the need to make countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement, or BDS movement, a priority. The July 2 letter sought advice on how to "fight back against further attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel."
"As you know, BDS seeks to punish Israel and dictate how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve the core issues of their conflict. That is not the path to peace," Clinton wrote.
The BDS movement has gained strength on U.S. college campuses and in Europe. The Israeli government and many Jewish leaders have called the movement anti-Semitic and an attempt to discredit Israel. BDS advocates say it is based on the campaign against South African apartheid and is aimed at Israeli policy, not Jews, following two decades of failed peace talks and expanded Israeli settlement of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/64185eef83064b70a65c4814b2363c78/clinton-says-she-opposes-boycott-effort-against-israel
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)It doesn't seem to be popular at all with American politicians.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)Or claimed that it's attempting to "dictate how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve the core issues of their conflict."
Sure, the Palestinians have their demands, which the Israelis are unlikely ever to meet in full. But as BDS has become more widely popular, it's largely turned into an effort to just get the Israelis to negotiate honestly and stop the land grabs and other tactics designed to make a Palestinian state impossible.
And though I wouldn't expect any US candidate to support that outright, they might be advised not to treat it as a threat to be crushed.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-losing-democrats-cant-claim-bipartisan-us-support-top-pollster-warns/
Three quarters of highly educated, high income, publicly active US Democrats the so-called opinion elites believe Israel has too much influence on US foreign policy, almost half of them consider Israel to be a racist country, and fewer than half of them believe that Israel wants peace with its neighbors. These are among the findings of a new survey carried out by US political consultant Frank Luntz.
Detailing the survey results to The Times of Israel on Sunday, Luntz called the findings a disaster for Israel. He summed them up by saying that the Democratic opinion elites are converting to the Palestinians, and Israel can no longer claim to have the bipartisan support of America.
He said he knew there was a shift in attitudes to Israel among US Democrats and I have been seeing it get worse in his ongoing polls. But the new findings surprised and shocked him, nonetheless. I didnt expect it to become this blatant and this deep.
A prominent US political consultant known best for his work with Republicans, Luntz is meeting with a series of high-level Israeli officials this week to discuss the survey and consult on how to grapple with the trends it exposes.
onenote
(42,715 posts)WTF has happened to DU?
starroute
(12,977 posts)...that's worthy of note. Any time a GOP pollster acts as the bearer of bad news for his fellow conservatives, it has to be taken seriously.
onenote
(42,715 posts)and if you can't see that you don't know squat about Luntz.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)But in this case, his audience was RW Israelis, and he was telling them what the numbers are with American Dems, and how to 'message' to regain lost ground with American Dems. The article is actually worth reading as 'oppo research' as it were, so we know when they're simply being disingenuous and using 'Luntzian talking points'.
So when you hear Israeli leaders talking about 'encouraging more communication' and 'more diplomacy and discussion', you know they're simply talking BS provided to them by Luntz.
onenote
(42,715 posts)Don't be fooled.
His goal is to convey the message that "Democratic elites" don't like or support Israel and, thus, rank and file Democrats that support Israel, and particularly Jews that support israel, should be shifting their support from the Democratic party to the Republicans.
It is interesting to note that none of the articles reporting this "poll" provide any description of the methodology and underlying data. Just exactly who are these "Democratic elites," how did Luntz identify them? The absence of such information, particularly given the source, should send any objective observer's BS meter off the charts.
Sorry, but you are, presumably unintentionally, furthering Luntz' pro-Republican agenda (the only agenda he cares about).
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
onenote
(42,715 posts)You can't seriously think that Luntz didn't know and intend for reports of his study to be widely circulated, via the Internet and otherwise, beyond the readership of the Times of Israel. No one could be that naieve.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Luntz wants is for them to hear about it and thus create far more people who support it.
So yeah, you're still spinning paranoid fantasies about super-Luntz and his Machiavellian machinations.
candelista
(1,986 posts)Her whole strategy is to not offend anyone.
HFRN
(1,469 posts)mpcamb
(2,871 posts)It's pathetic.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)This smells of neocon policy.
Maybe she can tell us what exactly is the path to peace? Israel isn't going to budge unless a lot of external pressure is brought to bear. BDS is the only way to do that at present.
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)still_one
(92,242 posts)solution, prefers Labor over Likud, and believes in supporting Israel
Response to still_one (Reply #10)
Dr Hobbitstein This message was self-deleted by its author.
hack89
(39,171 posts)still_one
(92,242 posts)negotiating table, but I cannot see him being for the boycott.
I also think in regard to Israel, all the Democratic candidates' position is pretty similar
still_one
(92,242 posts)BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)It offers some surprising numbers on American feelings towards BDS, and shows that despite the growing power of BDS, it's still mostly unknown to Americans, so has a lot of room to grow. It also lets you enjoy a bit of Frank Luntz' discomfort with his findings.
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)betterdemsonly
(1,967 posts)Look, apologist for Israel used to criticize Palestinians for using terror instead of imitating MLK, and Gandhi then when they do that, they claim the tacitics of MLK and Gandhi are the same as terrorism.
I call hypocricy on Clinton. Frankly I am deeply skeptical that centrists like her would really have supported MLK and Gandhi. Separate but Equal might be viewed as a centrist policy. Segregationists could have openly advocated for just being Separate.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)Freddie Stubbs
(29,853 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)What are you saying? That some people are more entitled to freedom and autonomy than others?
Divestment is a winning strategy to change government behavior.
jalan48
(13,871 posts)tularetom
(23,664 posts)I was hoping she'd be asked, just to watch her squirm, but I never heard about it.