Study: Some Of Sanders Best Friends Jewish

“This should be useful,” said Donald Drumpf, a New York businessman with a keen interest in demographic studies.

Burlington, June 14 – A recent examination of the various social relationships involving Senator Bernie Sanders indicates that a number of his more intimate acquaintances have Jewish ancestry or faith.

The challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination for November’s presidential election has faced persistent accusations that he associates with antisemites and with figures known for their antipathy for Israel. Sanders himself has repeated or amplified false casualty statistics from Israel’s offensive against militants in the Gaza Strip two summers ago, and often relies on information from sources tainted by anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudice. However, the statistics borne out by the study could shield the candidate from further such aspersions, now that it is known some of his best friends are Jewish.

Researchers from the Brookings Institute, a think tank, documented and identified the one hundred closest friends in the life of Bernie Sanders. To do so, they relied on video footage, documents disclosed to the public, leaked phone records, and other sources of information to triangulate which of the many people surrounding the candidate can reliably be deemed his friends. The records and documentation covered the last eighteen months, such that the researchers are confident the data provide an accurate picture of the Vermont senator’s friends.

“We made rough ranking of the senator’s non-campaign and non-government contacts with whom he maintains a connection and makes attempts to visit or otherwise spend time with outside the scope of his official or campaign duties,” said lead researchers Asa Joo. “We did so by cataloging the amount of time Mr. Sanders spends with such individuals, either in person or via the internet, and established a case for each of those people being called his friend. What we discovered was that of the top twenty people ranked for friendship in the life of Bernie Sanders, four are Jewish, with one of the four even attending a synagogue on the High Holidays every few years.”

Other researchers offered cautious praise for the findings. “This should be useful,” said Donald Drumpf, a New York businessman with a keen interest in demographic studies. “Not exactly huge, but still pretty good. I’d like to see more information on other backgrounds, such as Mexicans and Muslims. I think these studies are actually hiding something. I’m going to have some of the best people review the information. I’ll bet they won’t believe what they’ll be finding.”

Sanders declined to be interviewed for this article, citing a scheduling conflict that had him at an all-day strategy session with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.