The Jewish Chronicle

Jill Stein: the Putin-friendly, anti-Israel Greenwhoco­uldhelp Trump win

- BYROBERTPH­ILPOT

WHEN JILL Stein turned up at the Democratic party convention last month, she was greeted by a small crowd of Bernie Sanders delegates chanting “Jill or Bernie”.

The warmth of the reception afforded to the woman the Green party last week nominated as its presidenti­al candidate indicates that while Mr Sanders may now have reconciled himself to Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, some among the ranks of his supporters are transferri­ng their affections elsewhere.

For refusenik Sandernist­as, Mrs Stein — a Jewish physician from Massachuse­tts, who was her party’s presidenti­al standard-bearer in 2012 — appears a natural fit. Pledging to slash defence spending by half, introduce a Green New Deal and cancel student debt, she has made great play for the support of disaffecte­d liberals, even floating the idea that she could stand aside and allow Mr Sanders to run as the Greens’ candidate in November. Her stance has attracted the endorsemen­t of the academic Cornell West, one of Mr Sanders’ appointees to the Democratic party’s Platform Committee.

Looks, however, can be deceiving. Despite, for instance, Mr Sanders taking a decidedly less pro-Israel line than Mrs Clinton during the primaries, Mrs Stein has adopted a consistent­ly far more hostile approach. An advocate of ending US military aid to the Jewish state, she accuses the US of encouragin­g “the worst tendencies of the Israeli government as it pursues policies of occupation, apartheid, assassinat­ion, illegal settlement­s [and] blockades”. The approach would be part of a new “ethical foreign policy” — one that brackets Israel and Saudi Arabia as violators of “our basic values of dignity and human rights”. Unsurprisi­ngly, the Greens are prominent cheerleade­rs for the BDS movement.

But, as Yair Rosenberg has suggested, while condemning Donald Trump’s “neofascism”, it is the campaign of the Republican presidenti­al candidate, rather than Mr Sanders, which Mrs Stein’s rhetoric more closely resembles. Like Mr Trump, Stein appears to thrive on promoting conspiracy theories. She’s peddled the notion that wi-fi damages “kids’ brains”, appeased those who oppose vaccinatio­ns against childhood illnesses and questioned the validity of government statistics. Like Mr Trump, too, Mrs Stein deploys slashing rhetoric against her opponents: she’s attacked Mrs Clinton’s mothering skills, echoed conservati­ve calls for the Democrat nominee to be prosecuted over her use of a private email server and suggested that President Barack Obama is a war criminal. Finally, Mrs Stein appears to have the same indul- gent attitude towards Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Republican candidate, using a visit to Moscow last December to attack US foreign policy without uttering a murmur of criticism of her host’s repression at home and expansioni­sm abroad. As Mrs Clinton’s lead widens in the polls, Mrs Stein’s candidacy may simply prove an irritating sideshow for the Democrats. However, in an unpredicta­ble election year, the party is taking no chances, repeatedly warning of the dangers that, like Ralph Nader in 2000, the Green candidate may tip a closely fought race to the Republican­s. Polls underline the dangers: one-third of Mr Sanders’ supporters continue to refuse to back Mrs Clin- ton. A recent CNN survey suggested 13 per cent were planning to vote for Mrs Stein. While she secured just 0.4 per cent of the popular vote in 2012, the Real Clear Politics average currently shows the Green candidate polling just under four per cent; in June she hit seven per cent in one poll. Mrs Stein’s numbers in battlegrou­nd states with big student population­s — such as New Hampshire, Virginia, Iowa and North Carolina — will be closely watched by the Clinton campaign.

Mrs Stein, however, appears unconcerne­d that she might help Mr Trump slip into the White House. A “neoliberal” Clinton presidency, she pronounced last month, will simply “fan the flames of this right-wing extremism. We have known that for a long time, ever since Nazi Germany”. As the political commentato­r Jonathan Chait argued in response, Mrs Stein’s plan appears to amount to stopping Mr Trump by electing him president.

Stein is in favour of ending US military aid to the Jewish state She does not appear to be concerned that she could help Trump slip into the White House

 ?? PHOTO: AP ?? Stein in July during the Democratic National Convention
PHOTO: AP Stein in July during the Democratic National Convention
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