PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Hillary Clinton personally asked an adviser, Wendy Sherman, to make sure the Democratic Party platform remained pro-Israel, Sherman said.
“I had very direct instructions from Secretary Clinton that there would be clarity about this issue and there would be no space,” Sherman, a member of the committee drafting the platform, said Tuesday at an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
A debate broke out during the drafting of the platform last month over mentioning Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Israeli settlements. Philosopher Cornel West pushed for the provisions to be added, but the effort failed.
The Republican Party platform’s Israel section did change this year. It no longer includes support of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and opposes “any measures intended to impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other terms.”
At the AJC event, Sherman said that “continuing to secure our bond with Israel” was one segment of enhancing America’s role in the Middle East and fighting the Islamic State terror group. Sherman, who was under secretary of state for political affairs for part of the time Clinton was secretary of state, said cooperating on intelligence with Israel is a priority.
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