Dershowitz: Sanders Is Dangerous Ignoramus, Picked ‘Professional Israel-Hater’ For Democratic Platform

TEL AVIV – Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, “an ignoramus when it comes to the Middle East,” has tapped a “professional Israel-hater” for the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee, internationally acclaimed lawyer Alan Dershowitz told the Algemeiner on Tuesday.

Dershowitz, a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party and the author of The Case for Israel, slammed Sander’s selection of Arab-American Institute (AAI) president and BDS activist extraordinaire James Zogby to fill one of his five slots.

But, Dershowitz says, the move doesn’t surprise him in the least.

“Bernie Sanders is an ignoramus when it comes to the Middle East, and he is very strongly biased against Israel. He gets his information from hard-Left, anti-Israel sources, and he doesn’t think for himself,” he said.

Sanders also appointed philosopher and fellow Israel boycotter Cornell West, who has said that the crimes of terror group Hamas “pale in the face of the U.S.-supported Israeli slaughter of innocent civilians” and accused President Barack Obama of being “most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy, and very effective in getting what they want.”

A third appointee picked by Sanders is Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn), the first Muslim elected to Congress.

Dershowitz is fearful that Sanders’ choices will jeopardize the Democratic Party’s future relations with Israel.

“Putting two Israel-bashers on the committee risks dividing the Democratic Party over an issue on which they’ve always been united,” he said.

According to the lawyer, Sanders, who trails Hillary Clinton by only six percentage points, “poses a tremendous threat to Clinton’s election, and she should fight tooth and nail to keep the Democratic platform supportive of Israel.”

However, this is not out of concern that Sanders might have a shot at the presidency – which in Dershowitz’s view, he doesn’t. It’s because the alternative is worse. According to Dershowitz, Sanders is “more dangerous as a losing candidate than he would be if he were to win the nomination, since if he did, he would be overwhelmingly defeated in November. As a loser, on the other hand, he threatens to push Clinton into positions that will make it much harder for her to win the general election.”

“I’m not worried about Sanders as a winner; I’m worried about him as a loser. And I will do everything in my power to see that he is marginalized in the Democratic Party, particularly on foreign policy, about which he knows nothing,” he added.

Zogby has lambasted American support for Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “shameful,” claiming that “Israeli society is on a slippery slope — becoming increasingly tolerant of racist violence.” The AAI president also equated the “plight of the Palestinians” to that of the Jews during the Holocaust.

The party’s current platform policy seeks “a just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian accord, producing two states for two peoples, [which] would contribute to regional stability and help sustain Israel’s identity.”

However, reports emerged over the weekend that Sanders intends to use the DNC to revise the party’s stance on Israel to be more favorable towards the Palestinians, and will include explicit references to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.

Zogby reaffirmed that he sought change in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine in which he promised that the Democratic Platform will “toughen” up its stance towards Israel and include the word “occupation.”