Senator Bennet avoided Gaza

By Seth Klamann
The Denver Post

(The Denver Post) — U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet backed out of a weekend gubernatorial forum hosted by Colorado Muslims because he didn’t want to address questions about the war in the Gaza Strip, the event’s organizers said.

While a state senator backed up that account, Bennet’s campaign disputed the characterization on Tuesday.

For the Sunday event in Englewood hosted by Colorado Muslim Vote, organizers initially wanted Bennet and his Democratic primary opponent, Attorney General Phil Weiser, to share the stage. But they changed the format to a forum with each candidate at Bennet’s request — with the senator set to speak first, followed by Weiser.

Bennet’s team also raised several concerns early last week, six days before the event. Azra Taslimi, an attorney and a co-founder of Colorado Muslim Vote, said that in addition to raising concerns about security and about how organizers planned to handle disruptions, Bennet’s campaign manager also requested no questions related to Gaza or Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory.

Taslimi declined the campaign’s request and also declined to provide specific questions in advance, she told The Denver Post. But she said she told Bennet’s team that she would work with them on framing the questions appropriately and that she shared the topics of the questions.

Senator Bennet avoided Gaza

The campaign then said that Bennet would not participate, Taslimi said, because the forum wasn’t the appropriate place to talk about his record on Gaza. Instead, the campaign said Bennet would be willing to meet with Muslim leaders privately to discuss the issue, Taslimi recalled.

State Sen. Iman Jodeh, an Aurora Democrat, said in an interview that she also spoke with Bennet’s campaign, which provided the same reasoning for backing out of the event.

“How can we not ask about a thing that affects so many people in our community?” Taslimi said Tuesday.

She said her group had sought security for the event and had taken steps to curb any disruptions. During the forum, when some audience members interjected as Weiser answered questions about Israel and Gaza, Taslimi — who moderated the event — intervened.

Bennet’s campaign “absolutely, unequivocally said: ‘No questions on his record about Gaza,’ ” she said in an interview. “The takeaway was, if we agreed to not ask questions about his record, that he would still participate.”

Senator Bennet avoided Gaza

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Bennet spokeswoman Jordan Fuja said the campaign “did not demand to approve questions in advance nor refuse to answer questions about his record.”

“Michael is deeply committed to having meaningful conversations with the Muslim community,” Fuja wrote. “As we received details about the forum, it became clear that this event would not lend itself to a genuine dialogue where Michael can listen to the community and provide the clarity people deserve.”

“Michael has never refused to answer difficult questions,” she continued, “and will continue to have these conversations, as he has his entire career.”

Bennet — who, like Weiser, is the son of Holocaust survivors — has issued statements criticizing the “unacceptable humanitarian crisis” in Gaza but has not supported prior congressional resolutions limiting arms sales to Israel. He’s faced public questioning over Israel before: He was repeatedly interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters during an event last May, and audience members asked him to oppose arms shipments to Israel during another town hall in Colorado Springs earlier last year.

“I do think the Gaza situation is a tragic, tragic situation,” he said at that event. As he started to talk about a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, audience members interjected.

Senator Bennet avoided Gaza

The latest disagreement comes as Democratic politicians nationwide try to navigate growing criticisms from their own voters about American support for Israel. The Middle Eastern country has been accused of human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza, where more than 72,000 people have been killed by the Israeli military since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

As the death toll in the Palestinian territories has mounted, public polling has shown a stark decline in support for Israel among U.S. voters. In February 2022, 55% of voters had a favorable view of the country. Four years later, that figure had fallen to 37%, according to the Pew Research Center.

The decline is even sharper among national Democrats: According to Pew, 80% of Democrats and likely Democratic voters hold an unfavorable view of Israel, a 27-point increase from 2022.

The shift among Democrats has played out in Colorado, too. Nearly two years after the Colorado Democratic Party rejected a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the party last month adopted a new policy platform at its state assembly that accused Israel of committing genocide in the territory.

The state party also called for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the U.S.-based lobbying group that spends heavily to support pro-Israel candidates, to register as a foreign agent under federal law.

At the forum on Sunday, Weiser was peppered with questions about Israel and Gaza, alongside questions about how he would address anti-Muslim bigotry, according to a video of the event. He pledged to “listen and work with you” and noted the rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric.

That earned him applause. He received a much more muted response when he said that, though he didn’t agree with all of AIPAC’s actions, he didn’t support requiring the group to register as a foreign agent.

Weiser did not directly answer when asked if he supported repealing a Colorado law that requires the state employees retirement fund to divest from any company that boycotts Israel. He argued that the fund should be focused on making the best investments it can, not “seeking to advance foreign policy goals.”

Senator Bennet avoided Gaza

Another audience member then asked if Weiser agreed with the state party’s recently adopted policy platform, which labeled Israel’s government as “extremist” and said the country’s campaign in Gaza was genocidal.

“I will answer your question this way: I recognize the human rights violations that we’ve talked about. I will say that the Netanyahu government has had actions and policies that I find abhorrent and that pain me,” Weiser said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I will say that at my Passover Seders, I and others were praying for peace and were pained by the suffering of so many innocent Palestinians and kids who have suffered so greatly.

“I feel and I understand the pain that so many have been affected by. I recognize the need and the work ahead for repair.”

That drew murmurs that Weiser hadn’t directly answered the question. Taslimi then asked Weiser if he was disagreeing with the state party’s platform.

“I’m saying that this is a word” — genocide — “that I use very, very” carefully, he said, adding: “I will condemn the suffering, the pain, the human rights violations.”