30 | MARCH 5 • 2020 

WASHINGTON — Although he 
was off campaigning hundreds 
of miles away, no one had a big-
ger presence on the opening day 
of the American Israel Political 
Action Committee’
s annual con-
ference than Bernie Sanders. 
The self-described “demo-
cratic socialist” from Vermont 
and current frontrunner for the 
Democratic Party’
s presidential 
nomination was repeatedly 
invoked Sunday, March 1, and 
almost always as a looming 
threat to AIPAC’
s policy agenda.
While AIPAC has been a 

mainstay stop for presidential 
candidates — former New York 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg 
addressed the conference 
Monday, and former Vice 
President Joe Biden and Sen. 
Amy Klobuchar sent video 
messages — Sanders has openly 
tussled with the group, which 
he’
s accused of giving space to 
speakers who “express bigotry 
and oppose basic Palestinian 
rights.
”
Many speakers fired back 
at Sanders, both directly and 
indirectly. Danny Danon, Israel’
s 

ambassador to the United 
Nations, opened the conference 
calling Sanders an “ignorant 
fool” who wouldn’
t be welcome 
in the country. “We don’
t want 
Sanders in Israel,
” Danon said.
Even AIPAC’
s progressive pol-
itics panels had an anti-Sanders 
mood.
“[Sanders] will say he’
s pro-
Israel, but then he has surrogates 
who have said things very criti-
cal of Israel,
” said Ann Lewis, a 
longtime Democratic operative 
who now co-chairs Democratic 
Majority for Israel, which 

recently launched an advertising 
campaign against Sanders. “We 
Democrats have a proud history 
of supporting the U.S.-Israel 
relationship. That’
s not going to 
change.
”
The afternoon’
s big speakers 
didn’
t mention Sanders by name, 
but their jabs at the Vermont 
senator were still apparent, with 
Betsy Berns Korn, AIPAC’
s 
newly appointed president, say-
ing the group is now “in a fight.
”
House Majority Leader 
Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) got 
one of the biggest applauses 
when he said that “as a party, 
Democrats in the House stand 
solidly with Israel and the 
right of every Israeli to live in 

O

n Monday, March 
2, Israelis headed to 
the polls for the third 
time in less than a year to par-
ticipate in a national election. 
But some of the government’
s 
emissaries in Michigan weren’
t 
holding out hope for a differ-
ent outcome.
“I think we are going to end 
up with the same result as the 
previous two elections,
” Nina 
Yahalomi Klevitsky, senior com-
munity shlicha for the Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan 
Detroit (JFMD), told the Jewish 
News. “There has even been 
some talk about a fourth elec-
tion, but I really hope that these 
leaders will all sit in a room and 
figure this out.
”
Klevitsky was sent to 
Michigan in 2017 by the Jewish 

Agency for Israel, a nonprofit 
organization that operates in 
collaboration with the State of 
Israel to bring Israeli culture 
and educational resources to the 
Metro Detroit community. She’
s 
one of many Israelis currently 
living in Michigan who have 
watched the country’
s last sev-
eral months of political chaos 
from afar. 
The two prior standoffs 
between sitting Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu’
s Likud 
party and challenger Benny 
Gantz’
s Blue and White party, 
which began with the first 
election in April 2019, have 
each ended with deadlock. The 
election’
s winners have thus far 
been unable to form a majority 
coalition in Israel’
s parliament, 
the Knesset. Under Israeli law, 

failure to form a 61-seat coali-
tion triggers another election.
Although there are Israelis 
living in Metro Detroit, not 
many of them can vote in the 
Israeli national elections, or 
even if they can, they often 
choose not to.
“In order to vote, you have 
three conditions that must 
exist,” Klevitsky said. “[The 
voter] needs to be over 18, be 
a citizen of Israel and must 
have an address or a residence 
in Israel.” 
There are no absentee ballots, 
which means that any Israelis 

in the U.S. not on behalf of the 
government must fly back to 
Israel for the elections if they 
wish to vote. 
“Most Israelis here don’
t have 
the right to go back and vote. 
But, even if they do have that 
right, most Israelis here will not 
pay thousands of dollars to fly 
back to Israel just to participate 
in the election,
” Klevitsky said.
Since Klevitsky has been 
sent abroad on behalf of the 
State of Israel on a specific 
mission, she and her husband 
do not have to travel back to 
Israel to vote. Instead, they 

COURTESY OF NINA YAHALOMI KLEVITSKY 

Another Election? 
Michigan’s Israelis Sigh

Local missionaries express 
frustration over latest deadlock.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

COUR

Nina Yahalomi 
Klevitsky casts 
her ballot 
in Chicago 
for Israel’
s 
national 
election. 

eretz
brought to you in partnership with 
www.WalkForIsrael.org

Join us. Sunday, May 3, 2020

At AIPAC Conference, Sanders is a Shonda

BENJAMIN FREED CONTRIBUTING WRITER

