Feb. 25, 2020
Mr. Bernie Sanders
U.S. Senator from Vermont
Fax: (202) 228-0776
Dear Senator Sanders,
Re: Your refusal to attend the AIPAC conference
I have read that you have refused to attend the AIPAC conference because it supports racism in Israel. Would that be the racism in which Jews are called descendants of apes and pigs? Just asking.
Senator Sanders, I get that you disagree with Israel’s position, but refusing to engage in diplomacy with the American members of AIPAC is not a good harbinger for your presidency. Will President Sanders refuse to meet with hostile countries like Iran? That would be an outrageous policy decision, one that would endanger the world. I would contend sir that your refusal to meet with American Jews which a progressive thinker would see as an opportunity to teach and learn is itself a racist act. It is racist because you went to the American Islamic conference where many attendees think of Jews as people who worship ‘Benjamins’. That kind of racism you can support, but American Jews who support Israeli settlements violate your principles? Please.
Go to the damn conference and be an agent for inclusion not ostracism.
Sincerely yours,
Lawrence C. Shapiro, a Sanders supporter