Is the Debate on Israel and Palestine Changing in the US?

FEATURING SUAN ABULHAWA – At least half a dozen Democratic Presidential contenders are skipping this year’s AIPAC conference. Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Peter Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke, and Julian Castro, are among those apparently boycotting the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The exodus came after the liberal group Moveon.org called on Presidential contenders not to attend.

Attending the AIPAC conference signals unconditional support for Israel, and has long been a bipartisan celebration of the US’s close alliance with the nation. But this year there appear to be cracks in the consensus that Israel can do no wrong.

Meanwhile newly elected Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota spoke at the CAIR-LA banquet over the weekend in Southern California. Omar has become a lightning rod for right-wing pro-Trump and pro-Israel groups over her criticism of Israel. Her speech was met with hundreds of protesters denouncing her as anti-Semitic.

Susan Abulhawa, novelist and activist, founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, and author of My Voice Sought the Wind and Mornings in Jenin. Her writings have appeared in the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Al Jazeera, among others.