But unlike his competitors, who flocked to Washington to lay out their positions to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Sanders declined to address the pro-Israel lobby in person.

Instead, he stuck to the campaign trail in the western U.S. and gave a foreign policy speech that took stances likely to grate on the ears of Israel advocates as well as to please them.

Though Sanders is the only Jewish candidate and one whose views were shaped in part by his time living on an Israeli kibbutz, he apparently saw little benefit in appearing at a forum that features few of his progressive constituents and might not be receptive to his positions on Israel.

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