ARTICLE

Democrats Propose Cutting US Assistance To Israel Over Sovereignty Plans

News Image By JNS.org July 01, 2020
Share this article:

*Story Update* - No surprise here - Senator Bernie Sanders has added his name to this letter.

Four Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives have been circulating a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, threatening the conditioning or even cutting off of U.S. assistance to Israel if the Jewish state goes ahead with its plans to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank in what many have said would be an annexation of the area, also known as Judea and Samaria.

The letter has been issued by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).


In the letter, the progressive members of Congress, citing unspecified "leading human rights experts," warn that "annexing parts of the West Bank will perpetuate and entrench human rights violations against Palestinians including limitations on freedom of movement, mass expropriation of privately-owned Palestinian land, further expansion of illegal settlements, continued demolitions of Palestinian homes, and a loss of Palestinian control over their natural resources."

The letter accuses Israel of "paving the path toward an apartheid system" since it won't grant citizenship to Palestinians living in annexed territory," despite the Palestinians being under the control of the Palestinian Authority, known for corruption, human-rights abuses and supporting terrorism against Israelis.

"The U.S. should work to build a future in which all Palestinians and Israelis live under full equality by upholding a foreign policy that centers human rights and dignity for all people," states the letter. "We therefore call on you to use a combination of pressure and incentives to stop Israel's plans to illegally annex the West Bank, which would ensure a worsening of the situation for all Palestinians and Israelis."


The Congress members warn that if Israel were to go ahead with annexation, which the Israeli government has said it will do some time after July 1, "we will work to ensure non-recognition as well as pursue conditions on the $3.8 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel, including human rights conditions and withholding funds for the off-shore 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."

In an action alert email on Monday, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee called the letter "one-sided" and "directly threatens the U.S.-Israel relationship," "supports conditioning and cutting America's security assistance commitment to Israel" and "would damage American interests, risk the security of Israel and make a two-state solution less likely."

Originally published at JNS.org - reposted with permission.




Other News

March 26, 2024US End Game Approaching - Govt Spending More Than Twice What It Is Collecting

In a world where the US is spending more than twice what it is collecting, the endgame is clear: debt collapse, and while it won’t be tomo...

March 26, 2024Hezbollah Offensive Would Be Oct. 7 On Steroids

Thousands of rockets, thousands of casualties and devastating strikes to major infrastructure, cutting off water and electricity to Israel...

March 2, 2024U.S. Falls on the Global Happiness Scale - Why Are So Many People Unhappy?

"Finland is the world's happiest country, U.S. drops to all-time low," the New York Post reported earlier this week. This was in response ...

March 26, 2024Senate Dems Call Protecting Unborn Babies 'Dangerous' and 'Extreme'

A.C. tells the justices, that no one knows the "horror of abortion," like she did. And yet, on Capitol Hill, these nightmares are what Dem...

March 25, 2024Why Is The National Guard Being Deployed During The Great American Eclipse?

The National Guard is only supposed to be deployed in emergency situations. Now we have learned that National Guard troops will be deploye...

March 25, 2024Recognize The Times - Mankind's Exponential Increase In Knowledge

The angel Gabriel reveled to Daniel that there would be three major signs that would mark the "time of the end" and only those living in t...

March 25, 2024Dangerous Delusions: Palestinian and US Muslim Views On Hamas

Ninety-three percent of Palestinians believe that Hamas did not commit atrocities during its mass invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, a...

Get Breaking News