Hillary Clinton speaking at AIPAC, March 21.

Establishment politicians from both parties may disagree on many issues, but the one topic that traditional Republicans and Democrats seem to unanimously agree on is supporting Israel unconditionally at the expense of Palestinians’ human rights and America’s interests.

Presidential candidates’ speeches at the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee on Monday demonstrated that the United States cannot be an honest broker for peace in the Middle East.

Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton led the line in bowing down to Israel’s fanatic right wing government. She even criticized Republican front-runner Donald Trump for being too soft on Palestinians.

Trump, of course, had to make amends for a statement he made last month when he said he would be neutral on the conflict to secure a peace deal — a comment that has cost him more politically than all the bigoted attacks on women, Muslims and immigrants.

The real estate mogul dedicated his speech to smear and attack President Obama, earning himself roaring applause from the audience.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) filled his speech with Biblical references and kept mentioning “radical Islamic terrorism”, flaming a dangerous false notion that Jews and Christians are in an alliance against Muslims.

Senator Cruz’ views on this topic are shared by ISIS. This rhetoric empowers religious extremism on all side and makes the world a more dangerous place.

Absent from the discussion were Palestinians’ aspirations for an independent state, the desolate economic system imposed by Israelis on Palestinians and the blockade on Gaza. The discussion also ignored the illegal expansion of Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land — the biggest barrier to the two-state solution — except for a shamefully obscure reference by Clinton.

“Everyone has to do their part by avoiding damaging actions, including with respect to settlements,” the former secretary of state told AIPAC.

How can Clinton oversee peace talks when she blatantly calls Palestinians terrorists and anti-Semitic while encrypting the mildest criticism of Israel.

BDS is not anti-Semitic

A recurring theme that emerged at the AIPAC conference was demonizing and vilifying activists calling for boycotting Israel for its unethical and illegal policies against Palestinians.

Clinton vowed to protect the Zionist state from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement. She equated DBS with anti-Semitism.

“To all the college students who may have encountered (BDS) on campus, I hope you stay strong,” Clinton said. “Keep speaking out. Don’t let anyone silence you, bully you or try to shut down debate, especially in places of learning like colleges and universities. Anti-Semitism has no place in any civilized society, not in America, not in Europe, not anywhere.”

Her biased and appalling statements hit close to home. Arab American students, locally and nationally, have been pushing to stop their universities from investing in companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. They are not anti-Semitic.

There is nothing bigoted about rejecting your school’s unethical policies.

As a matter of fact, at the University of Michigan, where the BDS campaign has captured national headlines, Jewish students were among those lobbying for divestment. In 2014, U of M BDS activists hosted Jewish American journalist Max Blumenthal to argue the case for divestment.

BDS is a nonviolent, rational tactic to put pressure on the Israeli government to end the occupation and pursue peace. Dubbing Arab and Muslim students advocating for justice as anti-Semitic is Islamophobic. It promotes a false, divisive notion that all Arabs and Muslims hate Jews.

Clinton’s attacks against the Palestinian people and those who support their right to exist and prosper nullifies her past statements against Islamophobia.

The former secretary of state has shown that she is willing to say anything that the right audience wants to hear. She has condemned Trump for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, but she spewed thinly veiled Islamophobia at AIPAC.

Many Palestinians and BDS advocates have campaigned for Bernie Sanders, the first serious Jewish candidate for president.

Sanders did not attend the AIPAC conference. Instead, he delivered a balanced speech on his policies for the conflict.

The Senator from Vermont reaffirmed that he is a man of principles. We may disagree with him that Israel is a friend of the United States. However, if Washington were to treat Israel as a friend, Sanders is right. Friends speak truth to one another. Israel’s continued occupation and economic and military oppression of the Palestinian people endangers the entire world, including Israel.

The Arab American News salutes Sanders for his stance and reiterates what we wrote when we endorsed him.

Although his foreign policy does not fully live up to our aspirations, his call for an even handed U.S. approach is an essential first step toward solving the conflict.