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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOcasio-Cortez raises AIPAC ire over effort to tie Israel aid to annexation
Politico
Progressive lawmakers warn annexation would lay the groundwork for Israel becoming an apartheid state.
By HOLLY OTTERBEIN
06/30/2020 08:52 AM EDT
A dozen Democratic lawmakers have signed onto a hotly debated letter spearheaded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that calls for placing conditions on aid to Israel if it moves forward with plans to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.
The letter, parts of which were previously leaked to the media, was condemned Monday by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as harmful to Americas interests before the statement or its signers were finalized.
Should the Israeli government continue down this path, we will work to ensure non-recognition of annexed territories as well as pursue legislation that conditions the $3.8 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are not supporting annexation in any way, Ocasio-Cortezs letter reads. We will include human rights conditions and the withholding of funds for the offshore procurement of Israeli weapons equal to or exceeding the amount the Israeli government spends annually to fund settlements, as well as the policies and practices that sustain and enable them.
The letter, addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, also said that annexation would actively harm prospects for a future in which all Israelis and Palestinians can live with full equality, human rights and dignity, and would lay the groundwork for Israel becoming an apartheid state, as your predecessor John Kerry warned in 2014.
snip
Progressive lawmakers warn annexation would lay the groundwork for Israel becoming an apartheid state.
By HOLLY OTTERBEIN
06/30/2020 08:52 AM EDT
A dozen Democratic lawmakers have signed onto a hotly debated letter spearheaded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that calls for placing conditions on aid to Israel if it moves forward with plans to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.
The letter, parts of which were previously leaked to the media, was condemned Monday by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as harmful to Americas interests before the statement or its signers were finalized.
Should the Israeli government continue down this path, we will work to ensure non-recognition of annexed territories as well as pursue legislation that conditions the $3.8 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are not supporting annexation in any way, Ocasio-Cortezs letter reads. We will include human rights conditions and the withholding of funds for the offshore procurement of Israeli weapons equal to or exceeding the amount the Israeli government spends annually to fund settlements, as well as the policies and practices that sustain and enable them.
The letter, addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, also said that annexation would actively harm prospects for a future in which all Israelis and Palestinians can live with full equality, human rights and dignity, and would lay the groundwork for Israel becoming an apartheid state, as your predecessor John Kerry warned in 2014.
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Ocasio-Cortez raises AIPAC ire over effort to tie Israel aid to annexation (Original Post)
JoeOtterbein
Jun 2020
OP
I absolutely agree. Israel is run by people every bit as sadistic as Putin, and this
BComplex
Jun 2020
#2
The Declaration of Independence was a DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, not a "letter"!
George II
Jun 2020
#9
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)1. Another common-sense long overdue measure
that will be categorized as progressive fire-bombing by people sorely in need of a policy update.
BComplex
(8,053 posts)2. I absolutely agree. Israel is run by people every bit as sadistic as Putin, and this
needs to stop. They need to find better solutions than stirring the pot with the Palestinians, who have been hounded for generations by this bunch.
It's like the American right wing on steroids is ruining Israel, and putting their own people in danger of retaliatory acts on the part of Palestine. When you have nothing else to lose, you end up acting like it.
Bettie
(16,110 posts)12. I agree
Palestinians deserve human rights, as much as Israel's right wing government would have us believe otherwise.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)3. I question the effectiveness of high-profile sternly-worded letters.
Trumpocalypse
(6,143 posts)4. Like the Declaration of Independence?
Which was a high-profile sternly-worded letter to George III.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)7. LOL
George II
(67,782 posts)9. The Declaration of Independence was a DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, not a "letter"!
Trumpocalypse
(6,143 posts)10. If you say so
George II
(67,782 posts)11. I learned that even before Junior High.
Trumpocalypse
(6,143 posts)13. Good for you
PTWB
(4,131 posts)5. I question the effectiveness of doing nothing at all.
MerryBlooms
(11,770 posts)14. lol, that would be a first.
The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)6. Unfortunately, Sir, She Is Right
Very old lags here may recall me as one of the leading lights of 'Team Israel' in the old I/P forum.
Israel annexing the West Bank of the Jordan is illegal, and wrong.
It cannot be supported in good conscience by anyone, at least by anyone not willing to acknowledge the illegality and moral iniquity of the act.
Israel annexing the West Bank of the Jordan is illegal, and wrong.
It cannot be supported in good conscience by anyone, at least by anyone not willing to acknowledge the illegality and moral iniquity of the act.
crickets
(25,981 posts)8. K&R for the post and the discussion.