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
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Join us. Sunday, May 3, 2020
At AIPAC Conference, Sanders is a Shonda
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