Freshman
Representatives Heading to Israel on AIPAC Sponsored Trip
On Monday,
House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will be bringing a large delegation of freshman
Democratic members of Congress to Israel. The Trip is sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC). A Republican group is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Friday.
These trips to Israel are organized in
August of every off-election year for new members of Congress. Hoyer will be
joined by the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). The
presence of these party leaders shows the importance the trip has to party
leadership. It is part of the effort to squash some of the questionings of the
US-Israel relationship that has been growing within the party.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Rashida
Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are not attending the
trip, citing their criticism of AIPAC and the Israeli occupation in the West
Bank and Gaza. Omar and Tlaib have both announced plans to visit Israel and the
West Bank, separate from the AIPAC trip.
Activists groups like CODEPINK have
called on freshmen members of Congress to follow suit and also “Skip the Trip.”
CODEPINK’s website says, “The purpose of AIPAC-sponsored trips is to whitewash Israel’s human
rights violations and continue unchecked U.S. financial and diplomatic support
for Israel — all at the expense of Palestinian rights.”
The trip comes after the House overwhelmingly passed a
symbolic resolution condemning the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS is a campaign that was
started to pressure Israel over the occupation of Palestine.
The anti-BDS resolution says BDS “does
not favor a two-state solution.” Support for the two-state solution was the
excuse progressive members of Congress like Reps Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Tulsi
Gabbard (D-HI) used for voting in support of it. The week of the resolution’s
passing Israel demolished 10
Palestinian apartment buildings in East Jerusalem. Last week, Israel approved 6,000 new homes to be constructed for Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Although the anti-BDS resolution doesn’t
actually, restrict Americans from boycotting Israel, some States prohibit
contractors from doing so. Bahia Amawi, a speech pathologist that worked for a
school district in Texas since 2009 was going to sign a contract renewal in
2018 when she noticed an addition.
The addition was a certification Amawi
had to sign that pledged she “does not currently boycott Israel,” and that she
“will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract.” Amawi refused to
sign and lost her job. She’s since filed a lawsuit against the school district and the Texas
attorney general.
Over the past four years, 27 states have passed similar
anti-BDS legislation. Most of
the legislation requires state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel.
The anti-BDS resolution will probably
also, be used to prevent Rep. Omar’s recently introduced resolution from ever
getting a vote. Omar’s resolution is for the
purpose of “Affirming
that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of
civil and human rights at home and abroad, as protected by the First Amendment
to the Constitution.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is up for reelection again in September. Netanyahu failed to form a
government after elections in April, forcing Israelis to go back to the polls.
Any support from Washington is good for Netanyahu’s chances of reelection. The
Democrats are doing as much damage control as they can to prove that the party
is still strongly in support of Israel.
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