If there’s one issue on which I believe Obama would probably be better than Clinton, it’s Israel. We are never going to have peace in the Mideast as long as Israel continues to commit war crimes with impunity. But of course, he can no more speak the truth about that than he can about anything else that’s controversial. That’s the game he has to play.

I asked someone who’s in a position to know whether he thought Obama would be different. He said he thought Obama understood the broader issues, but as long as the heavy funders in the Democratic party were aligned with AIPAC policies, it was highly unlikely. (Yet another strong argument for public campaign financing.) Sigh…

While I could, to an extent, justify Clinton’s unquestioning support of Israel on the basis of her NY constituency, I can only keep my fingers crossed and hope she’d be different as president. I understand it’s a delicate dance, and not everything can be done in public. I also know that no candidate who says anything other than “Israel has my unwavering support” will be elected. That’s reality.

But so is this, and it’s a reality we can’t afford to ignore any longer:

The last time I spoke to my sons, they told me that they had to flee with their grandmother from her home because the Israeli army had announced they were going to bomb the area. My mother was old and could not drive, so the closest place to seek safety was the United Nations compound. Like so many other civilians, they sought refuge there. I assured them they would be safe with the United Nations.

Twelve years ago, on April 18, 1996, I was at work listening to the radio when I heard that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had attacked the compound in Qana. I rushed home and frantically called Lebanon. My brother told me the unbearable news: my boys were dead.

A U.N. investigation concluded that it was unlikely the strike on the U.N. compound was a mistake, as the IDF had claimed. The U.N. General Assembly condemned the attack as a violation of international humanitarian law, found that Israel should compensate Lebanon for the destruction, and has repeatedly adopted resolutions calling on Israel to bear the cost to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon. These resolutions have gone unheeded.