In Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Joe Biden, foreign policy — and Israel — go unmentioned

Bernie Sanders, right, endorses Joe Biden, left, in an online webcast on April 13, 2020. Image by Screenshot
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernie Sanders joined his old friend Joe Biden in a live webcast to endorse him on Monday, and the two candidates left standing in the Democratic primaries emphasized that they agree on more than what they disagree on.
“Today I am asking all Americans, I am asking every Democrat, I am asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy which I endorse to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe, and I’m speaking just for myself, now is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” Sanders said.
Biden audibly sighed with gratitude. “Your endorsement means a great deal, it means a great deal to me,” he said.
Israel and foreign policy weren’t mentioned at all in the 36-minute exchange, despite the fact that Sanders was the first Jewish candidate to be the front-runner in a major-party nominating contest, and that he has worked to move the Democratic Party’s views on the Jewish state to the left.
Sanders has sharply criticized the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the longtime Israeli leader racist. He has also said that he would leverage aid to Israel to influence the country’s policy, and has aligned with pro-Palestinian figures, including some who have made statements seen as anti-Semitic.
Instead, Biden asked Sanders to talk about the issues Sanders believed to be most urgent. Biden accepted Sanders’ demand for a $15 minimum wage, forgiving student debt and free community colleges, although the candidates seemingly still differed over a key Sanders demand, free universal health care. Biden said he would endeavor to make health care more affordable and available.
They also spoke of their long friendship and joked about playing chess online together.
“We’ll bore everybody for a few hours,” Sanders said.
The post In Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Joe Biden, foreign policy — and Israel — go unmentioned appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
- 4
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion The ADL reversed its support for Trump’s student deportations. You should too
-
Fast Forward Senate rejects Bernie Sanders’ proposal to block some weapons sales to Israel
-
Fast Forward Sotheby’s to auction earliest known kiddush cup
-
Opinion Trump’s new tariffs on Israel are a BDS dream come true
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.