On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Democratic U.S. House nominee Brad Lander said that he believes in “a Jewish and democratic Israel” “but I don’t think it’s possible for it to be democratic while it’s occupying the West Bank and Gaza.”
Lander said, “I believe in the vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel. I care about the place, but I don’t think it’s possible for it to be democratic while it’s occupying the West Bank and Gaza. And I don’t think that Israel’s conduct in Gaza, which I do consider a genocide, is consistent with Jewish values. So, to me, it’s like you stand up and you call it as you see it. I don’t want to keep sending U.S. military aid to Israel while it’s violating international law and Palestinian human rights. But I want it to actually honor international law and Palestinian human rights so it can be the Jewish and democratic Israel that I grew up believing in.”
Host Dana Bash then asked, “I just want to make sure I understand, you said that you don’t think it’s a democratic Israel?”
Lander answered, “I want it to be a Jewish and democratic Israel. Right now, I don’t think it’s modeling democracy while it occupies the West Bank and Gaza and half the people under its sovereignty can’t vote. But I believe that, when occupation ends, then it can be Jewish and democratic. And that’s what I am going to be — I am fighting for.”
He added, “Palestinians living in the West Bank facing settler terrorism or who are living in refugee camps in Gaza because their schools and hospitals were destroyed, they don’t have full political and civil rights.”
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