Congressional Fever of Israel-Fealty Intensifying

By Shirl McArthur

While both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have for decades engaged in an unseemly competition for Jewish-American votes and contributions, usually by expressing their continual and blind support for Israel, this past spring has seen them figuratively falling all over each other to convincingly express their fealty to Israel and commitment to causes seen as of interest to Jewish Americans. This is at least partially because many political pundits see President George W. Bush’s abandonment of even a pretext of even-handedness in Arab-Israeli matters as eroding Democrats’ traditional advantage in American Jewish electoral and financial support. This premise is questionable, however, because—as other pundits point out—many American Jews are drawn to the Democratic Party because of issues unrelated to Israel, and many others do not see the current Israeli government’s policies as being in Israel’s long-term interest.

AIPAC’s annual conference has long attracted large numbers of members of Congress from both parties to express their undying support for Israel, but this year’s meeting seemed to garner an even greater outpouring of congressional support, with more than half the members of Congress attending at least one function. Both House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) apparently bought into Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s attempts to link the U.S. global campaign against terrorism with Israel’s attempts to crush the Palestinian people. They either do not see or do not care that it is precisely this linkage between U.S. military actions in the Middle East and Israeli actions in Palestine that cause most people in the Middle East to be suspicious of American motives and objectives in the region.

Pro-Israel Bills Gain Support

On the legislative front, H.Con.Res. 371, introduced in February by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), “supporting the construction by Israel of a security fence to prevent Palestinian terrorist attacks and condemning the decision by the U.N. General Assembly [UNGA] to request the International Court of Justice [ICJ] to render an opinion on the legality of the security fence,” has gained 10 co-sponsors since those mentioned in previous issues of the Washington Report, and now has 156, including Pence. New co-sponsors are Reps. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Bud Cramer (D-AL), Chris John (D-LA), James Langevin (R-RI), Jim Marshall (D-GA), Dennis Moore (D-KS), Todd Platts (R-PA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Bart Stupak (D-MI), and Ed Whitfield (R-KY).

The U.S. should “seek an immediate end to the inequality experienced by Israel in the U.N.”

In addition, H.Con.Res. 390, introduced by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) in March “condemning the adoption of [UNGA] Resolution ES-10/14 (Dec. 8, 2003) which requests the ICJ to render an advisory opinion concerning the international legal consequences arising from Israel’s construction of a security fence in parts of the West Bank,” and expressing the continued U.S. commitment “to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish democratic state, its security and its right of self-defense, including the right to build a security fence as a direct consequence of more than three years of barbaric Palestinian terrorism,” has gained seven co-sponsors since those named in the previous issue of this magazine, and now has 32, including Ackerman.New co-sponsors are Reps. Bachus, Cramer, Peter Deutsch (D-FL), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD).

On April 28, Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX) introduced H.R. 4235, “to allow the export or other provision of oil to Israel.” In seeking co-sponsors, Frost said his bill would extend into law certain provisions of the expired Export Administration Act that authorized the president to export oil or to secure oil supplies for Israel. The bill has 13 co-sponsors, all Democrats: Reps. Ackerman, Dennis Cardoza (CA), Steve Israel (NY), Tom Lantos (CA), Nita Lowey (NY), Ed Markey (MA), Michael McNulty (NY), Ciro Rodriguez (TX), Janice Schakowsky (IL), Adam Schiff (CA), Henry Waxman (CA), Anthony Weiner (NY), and Robert Wexler (FL).

On May 12 House International Relations Committee (HIRC) Middle East subcommittee Chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) introduced three non-binding resolutions, H.Res. 615, 616, and 617, whose primary purpose seemed to be to burnish her (and indirectly the Republicans’) standing among Jewish Americans.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the three resolutions have nearly the same list of co-sponsors, nearly all dependable Israel-firsters. In addition to Ros-Lehtinen, 15 members co-sponsor all three resolutions: Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Dan Burton (R-IN), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Ben Chandler (D-KY), JoAnn Davis (R-VA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Peter King (R-NY), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), McNulty, Pence, Brad Sherman (D-CA), John Shimkus (R-IL), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Wexler. Also co-sponsoring H.Res. 615 and 617 are Reps. Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Henry Brown (R-SC), Joe Crowley (D-NY), Lantos, Charlie Norwood (R-GA), and Jim Saxton (R-NJ). Co-sponsoring H.Res. 615 are Reps. Ackerman, Richard Burr (R-NC), Bob Filner (D-CA), Mark Foley (R-FL) and Butch Otter (R-ID).

Resolutions 615 and 617 deal with Israel’s attempts to gain international legitimacy. The latter, with 21 co-sponsors, expresses the House’s “support for the accession of Israel to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).” Among other findings, it says that Israel shares the commitment to democratic government and the market economy that is the foundation of the OECD; Israel meets the OECD’s membership requirements; the U.S. should support and advocate the accession of Israel to the OECD; and “given the discriminatory policies against Israel in other international fora, Israel, upon accession to the OECD, should be afforded all the rights and privileges granted to all other member countries.”

H.Res. 615, with 26 co-sponsors, expresses the House’s support for “full membership of Israel in the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the United Nations.” The bill says that the president should direct the U.S. permanent representative to the U.N. “to seek an immediate end to the inequality experienced by Israel in the U.N.”; U.S. interests “would be well served” if Israel were afforded the benefits of full membership in the WEOG; the secretary of state and others should pursue diplomatic efforts and take all necessary steps to ensure Israel’s WEOG membership; and the secretary of state should regularly report to Congress on the actions taken to effect Israel’s full WEOG membership.

Anti-Semitism Draws Congressional Attention

H.Res. 616, with 15 co-sponsors, is one of several measures concerning allegations of acts of violence against or harassment of Jews in Europe and elsewhere. It condemns acts of anti-Semitism and calls on European Union countries to “take tougher and more unified measures” to fight anti-Semitic violence and intimidation throughout Europe. It also calls on the president to direct the U.S. permanent representative to the U.N. to work to pass a UNGA resolution condemning anti-Semitism, and it says combating acts of anti-Semitism worldwide should be a U.S. foreign policy priority.

In the Senate, S. 2292 was introduced by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) on April 7, reported out of the Foreign Relations Committee on April 29, and passed unanimously by the full Senate on May 7. It directs the secretary of state to send Congress an annual report on acts of anti-Semitism around the world, and to include the information from this report in the State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom and Human Rights reports. When passed, the bill had 24 co-sponsors besides Voinovich: Sens. George Allen (R-VA), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Joe Biden (D-DE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Michael DeWine (R-OH), Chris Dodd (D-CT), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), John Kerry (D-MA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Gordon Smith (R-OR), and Ted Stevens (R-AK).

However, H.R. 4230, introduced by Lantos on April 28, goes even further. It contains one truly outrageous “finding,” number 3, which says that “anti-Semitism has at times taken the form of vilification of Zionism, the Jewish national movement, and incitement against Israel.” Furthermore, not only would it require annual reports on “acts of anti-Semitism in foreign countries” and governmental responses to such acts, but it would also “authorize and encourage the secretary of state to establish within the Department of State an Office to Monitor and Combat anti-Semitism.” The bill has 26 co-sponsors in addition to Lantos: Reps. Ackerman, Berman, Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Burton, Cardoza, Filner, Frost, Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Joe Hoeffel (D-PA), Israel, Mark Kirk (R-IL), John Lewis (D-GA), Lowey, Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), McNulty, Jim Moran (D-VA), Ros-Lehtinen, Rothman, Max Sandlin (D-TX), Schakowsky, Chris VanHollen (D-MD), Waxman, Weiner, Wexler, and Albert Wynn (D-MD).

Jews Displaced by 1948 War Also Get Attention

In another victory for American Jews, particularly a New York-based group called “Justice for Jews from Arab Countries,” Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) on March 29 introduced S.Res. 325 urging the president to make sure that, in considering resolutions that allude to Middle East refugees, the text should refer to the fact that multiple refugee populations have been caused by the Arab-Israeli conflict, and any explicit reference to Palestinian refugees should be matched by similar reference to Jewish refugees from Arab countries. The resolution also says that any comprehensive peace agreement should also “include redress for the rights of all refugees displaced from Arab countries.” Coleman is the resolution’s only co-sponsor.

The milder bill, H.Con.Res. 311, expresses “the sense of Congress that the international community should recognize the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East should establish a program for resettling Palestinian refugees.” Introduced by Ros-Lehtinen last October and described in the January/February issue of the Washington Report, the bill now has 23 co-sponsors, including Ros-Lehtinen. The 17 not previously named are Reps. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Bob Beauprez (R-CO), Cardoza, Crowley, JoAnn Davis, Deutsch, Foley, Barney Frank (D-MA), Frost, King, Major Owens (D-NY), Jim Ramstad (R-MN), Rangel, Saxton, Chris Smith, Waxman, and Wexler.

President Imposes Limited Syrian Sanctions

Responding to congressional pressures, Bush on May 11 implemented the Syria Accountability Act by imposing limited, and largely symbolic, economic sanctions on Syria. He banned all exports to Syria, but excepted food and medicine, aircraft parts and components, informational materials, telecommunications equipment, certain software and technology, and certain temporary exports and re-exports. The president also prohibited Syrian aircraft from flying to and from the U.S., but excepted diplomatic and humanitarian flights and emergencies, and overflights of U.S. territory. Finally, he authorized the Department of the Treasury to block the assets of certain Syrian persons or entities.

It is important to note that diplomatic relations will not be cut or limited, no Syrian flights fly to the U.S., the exceptions to the export ban constitute a major portion of the $200 million or so of U.S. exports to Syria, and the $260 million or so of Syrian exports to the U.S. are not affected.

House Passes Resolution Criticizing Iran’s Nuclear Program

As expected, the House passed H.Con.Res. 398, which was introduced by HIRC Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) on March 25. It expresses “the concern of Congress over Iran’s development of the means to produce nuclear weapons,” and was passed under “suspension of the rules” on May 6 (see the previous issue of this magazine for a full description of the resolution). Lantos demanded a roll call vote, no doubt so that AIPAC could take names, and the final tally was 376 for the resolution, three against, 14 answering “present,” and 40 not voting. Those voting no were Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), and Ron Paul (R-TX). Those answering “present” were Reps. Michael Capuano (D-MA), Bob Filner (D-CA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), George Miller (D-CA), Alan Mollohan (D-WV), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Pete Stark (D-CA), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Diane Watson (D-CA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

Meanwhile, the two earlier resolutions described in previous issues of this magazine that express congressional concern over Iran’s “failure” to live up to its safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continue to gain co-sponsors.

In the House, H.Con.Res. 332, introduced by Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) last November, has gained 11 new co-sponsors beyond those previously named in this column and now has 230, including Weldon. New co-sponsors are Reps. Corrine Brown (D-FL), Cramer, Danny Davis (D-IL), Jim Davis (D-FL), Foley, Gil Gutnecht (R-MN), John Larson (D-CT), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Ike Skelton (D-MO), and Stupak.

The Senate version, S.Con.Res. 81, introduced last November by Feinstein, has gained seven co-sponsors and now has 63, including Feinstein. New co-sponsors are Sens. Chambliss, DeWine, Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Kerry, John McCain (R-AZ), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Arlen Specter (R-PA).

Shirl McArthur, a retired foreign service officer, is a consultant based in the Washington, DC area.