The majority of Democrats consider the BDS movement a legitimate means of pressuring Israel
- 2019-10-23 23:07:57
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Most Democrats see the BDS movement as a legitimate movement to pressure Israel into compliance with international resolutions and laws, according to the latest poll on US attitudes toward the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. To stop settlements and end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians.
The poll, which was revealed at the prestigious Brookings Institution in Washington on Tuesday, which was conducted between October 4 and October 10, and explored the opinions of 1260 American citizens of different orientations under the supervision of Dr. Shibley Telhami, a professor at the University of Maryland. A senior researcher at the Brookings Institution said 77 percent of Democrats support or do not oppose the boycott movement.
Telhami pointed out that when asked "Do you consider the BDS movement to be a peaceful, legitimate movement inspired by the South African apartheid movement as a means to pressure Israel?" In order to abide by international resolutions, and that Israel's opposition is not anti-Semitic, the answers were as follows: 77% of Democrats answered yes, only 13% of Republicans said so.
According to the poll, the majority of respondents - 51% said they had never heard of the BDS movement, 29% said they had heard "a little" about it, and only 20% said they were aware of it.
According to the poll, a large majority of Republicans, 76%, agree that "no matter how the BDS movement defines itself, it is an anti-Israel movement that is trying to weaken and undermine its legitimacy. ".
Although there is strong disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over support for the BDS movement, most party supporters agree that the United States should oppose laws that punish people who boycott Israel "because these laws violate the constitutional right to freedom of expression." 62% of Republicans agreed with this position while 80% of Democrats supported it.
Telhami explained that the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was previously immune to political polarization in the United States, that is, Israel has spontaneous bipartisan support, but over the past decade, during the Obama years and now during the Trump years, there has been increasing polarization that has affected public attitudes. There is much greater support for Israeli policies among Republicans and much more opposition to Israeli policies among Democrats. This is a special poll that shows it.
Dr. Yousef Munir, director of the American Campaign for Palestinian Rights, commented on the poll.
In the past few days, Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont), Senator Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) and Mayor Pete Petogig (Mayor of South Bend, Indiana) have been vying for the Democratic nomination against Donald Trump. With the 2020 presidential elections, they are with cutting aid to Israel if it continues to spread settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and violate the rights of Palestinians under occupation, a significant development in the positions of Democratic presidential candidates compared to the past.
On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said she was open to the idea of ​​making US aid to Israel conditional on halting settlement activity in the West Bank.
In a press statement, Senator Warren criticized the increase in settlements in the occupied territories.
Asked in Congress about her position on aid and settlement, Warren said: "The official policy of the United States is to support a two-state solution."
Beginning in February 2020, the Democratic primary will be officially decided by the party's candidate for the ballot, and the next US presidential election is scheduled for November 3, 2020.
The author and researcher Khaled al-Jundi commented on the positions of Democratic candidates by saying "Twitter": "It was usual for all presidential candidates, regardless of the party (Democratic or Republican) to outdo each other in showing who was more pro-Israel, that the fact Three of the four leading Democratic campaign contenders talking about the possibility of cutting off aid to Israel show you how far the Democratic Party base has moved on the situation on the Palestinian issue.
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