Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Ocasio-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 America’s 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-Cortez’s 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 America’s 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-Cortez’s 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
more at link
14 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
