The Sanders campaign, however, released a letter from Sanders on Friday afternoon declining AIPAC's invitation, explaining that Sanders would be unable to attend because of his campaign schedule.

"I would very much have enjoyed speaking at the AIPAC conference," Sanders said in his letter to AIPAC president Robert Cohen. "Obviously, issues impacting Israel and the Middle East are of the utmost importance to me, to our country and to the world. Unfortunately, I am going to be traveling throughout the West, and the campaign schedule that we have prevents me from attending."

But experts say that's a convenient excuse, as Sanders’ absence from the AIPAC conference is hardly a surprise.............Yael Rosenberg, a senior writer at Tablet, a magazine about Jewish thought and culture. “It really isn’t about him being Jewish, or his opinions on Israel. It’s just a smart campaign strategy.”


Rosenberg says that Sanders’ position on Israel during his career in Congress is not unlike that of many Democrats: he advocates a two-state solution and opposes both Israeli settlements and Palestinian violence.

“It’s a viewpoint that has been represented at AIPAC in the past, but it would be powerful coming from a Jewish candidate,” said Rosenberg. “But his voters on the left, other than a small fringe, don’t care. That’s not what they’re voting on — they care about domestic issues. There’s no reason to get sidetracked by something else.”

Sanders’ progressive base, however, has urged his campaign to skip the event to make a statement. Max Blumenthal, a senior editor at Alternet, started a petition at both Change.org and RootsAction.org calling on Sanders to reject the AIPAC invitation. The petitions have garnered about 19,000 signatures in total.

“As the main arm of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, AIPAC has sworn to promote the racist, militaristic and anti-democratic policies of the most right-wing government in Israel's history,” the petition reads. “With his promise to seek a ‘level playing field’ on Israel-Palestine, Bernie does not belong on the same stage as these figures.”

Blumenthal said he’s not surprised Sanders is skipping the event, though, especially because Sanders is funded mainly by grassroots donors who who don’t support “the blind special relationship between the U.S. and Israel,” he said. Blumenthal added that the petition was a way to nudge Sanders into a progressive direction.

http://www.ibtimes.com/why-bernie-sanders-skipping-aipac-conference-jewish-candidate-declines-invite-pro-2339423