1. Bills, Resolutions and Letters
2. FY12 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations (House Markup) - the
fun continues
3. State Department Authorization Bill (House) - more on the markup
4. State Department Authorization Bill (Senate) - details to follow
5. HFAC/MESA Subcommittee Hold Hearing on Syria and Iran
6 Odds and Ends
1. Bills, Resolutions and Letters
1. Bills, Resolutions and Letters
2. State Department Authorization Bill - the text (HR 2583)
3. State Department Authorization Bill - the markup and amendments
4. APN Calls for Boycott of Settlements, Settlement Products
5. APN Calls on Jewish Community to Oppose Anti-Democratic Trend in Israel
6. Shameless plug for my new op-ed on Palestinians at the UN
7. CUFI on the Hill
8. From the Archives: Bouyed by Congress, Israel Won't Alter Negotiating Points (NYT, 1975)
9. Odds and Ends
Every Tuesday, members of the Israeli Knesset get a chance to make mini-speeches, one minute addresses to the plenum, on a topic of their choice.
Today, on the eve of a Knesset vote on yet another anti-democratic bill, a bill that would establish McCarthy-like "parliamentary inquiry panels" to investigate human rights and social justice groups, Minister Binyamin Begin addressed an almost empty house. He used the short speech to warn his fellow Knesset members: "it is dark here."
Begin, a Likud hawk with a strong commitment to democratic and civil values, opened his instant-speech by recognizing the Chairman of the house, Reuven Rivlin, who last week courageously sided with the minority against the controversial Boycott Law (Begin actually supported it). "I wanted to thank you, Mr. Chairman, my good neighbor and good friend, for your longtime steadfastness, to safeguard the honor of the Knesset even against the caprices of its own members."
Israel's Knesset is set to vote today on a bill that would outlaw calling for any boycott of Israeli settlements - whether economically, culturally or academically.
Israel's largest circulation daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, yesterday published the following backgrounder on the bill:
Q: What does the bill stipulate?
The boycott bill stipulates that any individual or organization that sponsors a geographically-based boycott against Israel will be liable for damages that can be sued for in a civil court by the party injured by the call for the boycott.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) regrets that a resolution passed yesterday by the U.S. House of Representatives, along with its companion resolution passed last week in the Senate, fails to take a balanced and comprehensive approach toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two resolutions urge the administration to take punitive measures against the Palestinians for pursuing national reconciliation and international recognition.
"House Resolution 268 and Senate Resolution 184 do a disservice to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace, and do not serve the national security interests of either the United States or Israel," said APN's President and Executive Director Debra DeLee.
"These resolutions will only exacerbate the growing U.S. and Israeli isolation on these issues, and further undermine the chances of achieving peace and security for Israel. Israeli-Palestinian peace will not be achieved through congressional grandstanding. Heavy-handed resolutions from Congress cannot stop the Palestinians' quests for national unity, international recognition of their right to a state, and independence," DeLee added.
"It is regrettable that Congress did not choose a more pragmatic and responsible path to support Middle East peace efforts," DeLee said.
APN is a leading American Jewish organization advocating for Middle East peace.
Peace Now recently discovered that the government of Israel heavily subsidizes public bus fares to, from and between West Bank settlements.
Yesterday, Peace Now published a comparative table showing that bus fares from, to and between settlements cost half or less than bus rides of equivalent length inside Israel.