FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 11, 2020

CONTACT:
Yonah Lieberman, press@ifnotnowmovement.org 

On Wednesday, March 11, IfNotNow Movement endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for president, becoming the latest progressive group to join the movement behind his campaign and the first Jewish organization to back the most successful Jewish candidate in history. The move comes the week after a Nazi flag was dropped at a Bernie rally and as the Netanyahu government works with the Trump Administration to map out annexation.

This is the first political endorsement made by IfNotNow Movement, which began organizing in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge and has since waged successful campaigns to shift the way Jewish institutions — like Birthright and Jewish summer camps — educate on the occupation. The endorsement of Bernie Sanders is the latest action by the organization to affect the 2020 race. Last year it opened a 501(c)4 and began pressuring presidential candidates to condemn the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people and commit to holding the Israeli government accountable, by stopping to fund the occupation through the billions in military aid the United States government gives to Israel every year. In just a few months, IfNotNow put these debates at the center of a national conversation, and Senator Sanders championed a position that would leverage aid to end the occupation.

According to IfNotNow, after a robust debate and internal process lasting several weeks, 80% of their members voted to endorse Bernie Sanders. They will spend the next several months talking to American Jews and Democrats in states like Ohio, Illinois, and New York about issues that matter to their communities and making the case about why there must be a change to the status quo.

In  a statement for press about the endorsement, Dani Moscovitch, IfNotNow Movement co-founder, said:

This fight is not over. As a movement of young Jews fighting for freedom and dignity for all, we are proud to be the first Jewish organization to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for President. We are inspired and moved to action by Bernie and the #NotMeUs movement, which deeply embodies the Jewish call to pursue justice and repair our broken world. As much of the American Jewish and political establishments are uniting to stop his campaign and protect the status quo, we are called to get off the sidelines. Like us, Bernie rejects the false choice between being a proud Jew and supporting Palestinian freedom. He has embraced the common sense position that the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian people should end — and that our tax dollars should stop funding it. As the right weaponizes antisemitism to keep Americans divided and keep power in the hands of the few, we trust Bernie to lead us towards a future where everyone has what they need to thrive — by fighting racism and antisemitism and fighting for Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.