The two candidates leading their respective parties primaries spoke at the AIPAC. Both got a number of standing ovations. Clinton and Trump got loud applause for making a similar observations on Iran which played to the audience:
TRUMP: Do you want to hear something really shocking? As many of the great people in this room know, painted on those missiles in both Hebrew and Farsi were the words “Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth.” You can forget that.
CLINTON: Those missiles were stamped with words declaring, and I quote, “Israel should be wiped from the pages of history.” We know they could reach Israel or hit the tens of thousands of American troops stationed in the Middle East. This is a serious danger and it demands a serious response.
Reading the speeches side by side, I am struck by the similarities. Some of the loudest applause was reserved for comments demonizing Palestinians. Here’s Hillary:
CLINTON: This is especially true at a time when Israel faces brutal terrorist stabbings, shootings and vehicle attacks at home. Parents worry about letting their children walk down the street. Families live in fear. Just a few weeks ago, a young American veteran and West Point graduate named Taylor Force was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist near the Jaffa Port. These attacks must end immediately…
(APPLAUSE)
And Palestinian leaders need to stop inciting violence, stop celebrating terrorists as martyrs and stop paying rewards to their families.
You should listen to her deliver these lines and note the tone she uses when discussing Palestinians. Here’s Trump saying much the same thing:
TRUMP: And further, it would reward Palestinian terrorism because every day they’re stabbing Israelis and even Americans. Just last week, American Taylor Allen Force, a West Point grad, phenomenal young person who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was murdered in the street by a knife-wielding Palestinian. You don’t reward behavior like that. You cannot do it.
[...]
Meanwhile, every single day you have rampant incitement and children being taught to hate Israel and to hate the Jews. It has to stop.
For both Hillary and Trump, Palestinians are either terrorists, intransigent politicians, or inciters and terrorist sympathizers. When Clinton did bring up the never-ending two-state peace “process”, she was careful to quickly come back to caricaturing Palestinians as “terrorists” and “inciters”.
CLINTON: All of us need to look for opportunities to create the conditions for progress, including by taking positive actions that can rebuild trust — like the recent constructive meetings between the Israeli and Palestinian finance ministers aiming to help bolster the Palestinian economy, or the daily on-the-ground security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
But at the same time, all of us must condemn actions that set back the cause of peace. Terrorism should never be encouraged or celebrated, and children should not be taught to hate in schools. That poisons the future.
It seems conscripting 17 year olds into an army that has run a 50 year long military occupation of millions of civilians isn’t incitement or “teaching hate”, and doesn’t merit a rebuke. After rushing through a non-judgemental statement about Israeli settlements, Hillary rushed to add that the terms of any negotiations must be set by Israel and Israel alone:
CLINTON: Everyone has to do their part by avoiding damaging actions, including with respect to settlements. Now, America has an important role to play in supporting peace efforts. And as president, I would continue the pursuit of direct negotiations. And let me be clear — I would vigorously oppose any attempt by outside parties to impose a solution, including by the U.N. Security Council.
Does this count as telling Netanyahu to “cut it out” on settlements? Maybe it will in a few years. When Hillary does discuss the benefits of an Israeli/Palestinian settlement, it’s about how it will benefit Israel in its relations with other Middle-Eastern states. Nary a thought for alleviating the daily and oppressive suffering borne by Palestinians.
By now, you’ve caught on to the theme here, Trump has precisely the same view:
TRUMP: Let me be clear: An agreement imposed by the United Nations would be a total and complete disaster.
(APPLAUSE)
The United States must oppose this resolution and use the power of our veto, which I will use as president 100 percent.
When speaking about the Israeli/US relationship, both Trump and Clinton used similar terms, talking about taking the relationship “to the next level”:
TRUMP: When I become president, the days of treating Israel like a second-class citizen will end on day one. [...]
I will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately. I have known him for many years and we’ll be able to work closely together to help bring stability and peace to Israel and to the entire region. [...]
And we will send a clear signal that there is no daylight between America and our most reliable ally, the state of Israel.
CLINTON: And we will never allow Israel’s adversaries to think a wedge can be driven between us.[...]
That’s why I believe we must take our alliance to the next level. [...]
One of the first things I’ll do in office is invite the Israeli prime minister to visit the White House. And I will send a delegation from the Pentagon and the joint chiefs to Israel for early consultations. Let’s also expand our collaboration beyond security.
The “no daylight between us” line was trademarked by George W. Bush, so they had to go with the weaker don’t “think a wedge can be driven”.
Maybe I’m being a bit too hard. Trump did promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.It is in Tel Aviv, and the status of Jerusalem is, shall we say messy under international law. Hillary didn’t mention moving the embassy, but she’s made the same promise back in 1999 when she was considering her NY senate run. On the other hand, he did not promise to clamp down on civil disobedience and “battle” the BDS movement, that sister-Souljah moment was left up to Hillary. On Iran, they both heaped scorn on the Iranian regime, the difference was Hillary did it while supporting the P-5 deal brokered by Obama/Kerry to lift sanctions. Trump called it a “terrible deal”. But they have similar paths forward charted out:
TRUMP: Iran is a problem in Iraq, a problem in Syria, a problem in Lebanon, a problem in Yemen and will be a very, very major problem for Saudi Arabia. Literally every day, Iran provides more and better weapons to support their puppet states. Hezbollah, Lebanon [...]
Third, at the very least, we must enforce the terms of the previous deal to hold Iran totally accountable. And we will enforce it like you’ve never seen a contract enforced before, folks, believe me
CLINTON: But still, as I laid out at a speech at the Brookings Institution last year, it’s not good enough to trust and verify. Our approach must be distrust and verify.
(APPLAUSE)
This deal must come with vigorous enforcement, strong monitoring, clear consequences for any violations and a broader strategy to confront Iran’s aggression across the region. We cannot forget that Tehran’s fingerprints are on nearly every conflict across the Middle East, from Syria to Lebanon to Yemen.
If you find this all very depressing, there is a ray of light, and it comes from Bernie.