Another Trip to Israel
This week Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) led a Democratic delegation to Israel, where they were greeted in an official ceremony at the Knesset. The House Speaker told reporters that the formation of Israel was the greatest accomplishment of the 20th century. The group included Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Bill Keating (D-MA), Eric Swalwell (D-IA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), and Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Khanna is an interesting case. He’s developed a reputation as progressive on foreign policy as a result of his congressional fights over presidential war powers and the situation in Yemen, but activists want to see that kind of energy applied to Palestine. Last month protestors showed up at Khanna’s office demanding that the congressman support Rep. Betty McCollum’s H.R.2590, a bill that prohibits the detention of Palestinian children, the destruction of Palestinian homes, and further Israeli annexation.
“Hundreds of us are constantly going to the town halls and demanding either a better stance on Palestine, demanding he sign onto HR2590 and he brushed us off,” one of the protestors told me. “It was pretty clear looking at the Facebook comments that this was what the majority of his constituents were asking for. We were the only people consistently showing up to his town halls at the time. His response was basically, ‘I will claim to care about it, but I won’t sign onto HR2590. Instead, I want to work on more general sanctions for any country that violates the Leahy Law or violates human rights.’ So he’s not willing to take a stance against Israel. He’s even been willing to side with Trump over other Democrats.”
Before leaving on the trip Khanna told the Times of Israel that he sees himself as a “pro-Israel progressive” and said the country’s tech sector inspires him.
“The Democratic Party will remain committed to a strong US-Israel relationship. What has changed is that now there is an ability to articulate and stand up for human rights in a much stronger way, which is now accepted by the mainstream in our party,” said Khanna. “We should be open to all perspectives but if you ask me what is the Democratic Party ultimately going to converge around in the next few years, I’d argue that it will be what I’m articulating — a strong commitment to the US-Israel relationship, but one that is firmly rooted in human rights and unafraid to speak about things we believe will bring peace to the region and help establish a two-state solution.”
There was some pushback on Khanna’s comments on Twitter, where he tried to defend his position. Here’s the exchange between Khanna and IfNotNow cofounder Yonah Lieberman:
Lieberman: It’s honestly embarrassing for Ro Khanna — who led the charge to end US support for human rights abuses in Yemen — to say he is “inspired” by Israel. The flashy tech boom in Israel cannot hide the daily and systematic denial Palestinian rights.
Khanna: And I have spoken consistently against new settlements, condemned occupation, for lifting the blockade in Gaza, against demolition of villages, and for a two state solution rooted in human rights.
Lieberman: And actions speak louder than words: Support #HR2590. Why should the U.S. continue to provide billions in military aid without accountability to a two-state solution after Israel increasingly entrenches a one-state reality? Bernie and Warren put it on the table last year.
Khanna: I support a two state solution and also strict enforcement of Leahy and Arms Export control to ensure none of our aid is used in a way that violates human rights. I also have joined letters on Wadi Foquin and speaking out against forced evictions without due process.
I got a similar response from Khanna when I asked his office why he still hasn’t cosponsored H.R.2590 last week. He didn’t address his issues with McCollum’s legislation in any way, but cited the Leahy Law and the Arms Export Control Act.
The other member of the Israel trip with a progressive foreign policy reputation is obviously Barbara Lee. She recently became a cosponsor of the McCollum bill, but this is her second trip to the country in recent months. American Friends Service Committee’s Jennifer Bing tweeted, “Really Rep. Barbara Lee?! Two trips in less than six months? Did you miss the apartheid the first time? Will you speak truth to Israeli officials this time or just be their photo op prop?”
Pelosi’s delegation hit Israel just two weeks after Amnesty International released its report on Israeli apartheid, where the human rights organization called for an end to the “system of oppression and domination.” Just days before the trip Israeli forces shot and killed Mohammad Akram Abu Salah, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy. He’s the first child killed by Israel in 2022.
Bowman Backs Out of Abraham Accords
We’ve covered Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s ongoing conflict with DSA over his support for additional Iron Dome funding and recent J Street trip to Israel. In this newsletter I have also mentioned that Bowman recently lost Riverdale in the latest round of New York restricting. The pro-Israel community has shifted to Ritchie Torres, in a development that’s probably viewed as a win for both sides.
Some combination of these facts has no doubt led Bowman to rescind his co-sponsorship of the Israel Relations Normalization Act, a piece of legislation aimed at expanding the Abraham Accords.
In a letter to constituents explaining his reasoning, Bowman actually cited the J Street trip. “On this visit, I continued to dig deep and engage people directly on the ground, including high level Palestinian and Israeli government officials,” he wrote. “While I originally co-sponsored the Israel Relations Normalization Act seeing it as an opportunity to make progress toward justice and healing in the Middle East as well as a path to a two state solution, my experience on the ground and further conversation with constituents led me to see that it is not the right step to fulfill these goals.”
At Jewish Currents Alex Kane points out that Bowman is breaking ranks with J Street by withdrawing his support. “Political opponents will likely seize on the change; Bowman is already facing multiple primary challengers, including at least one with more hawkish views on Israel,” writes Kane. “His change of heart will also likely lead to backlash from some Jewish leaders in his district, who have previously protested his support for bills to advance Palestinian rights. At the same time, the decision to oppose a bill embracing Israel’s diplomatic deals with Arab states could help Bowman solidify his relationship with DSA and the broader left. Justin Charles, a member of DSA’s National Political Committee, said it’s too soon to say whether the vote will impact Bowman’s chances of being re-endorsed by the group, but that ‘it does signal movement in the right direction.'”
Bowman is already facing backlash from the pro-Israel crowd over the decision. A group of local rabbis provided Jewish Insider with a letter in which they call the move “surprising” and “disappointing.”
“His withdrawal of support for this important piece of legislation, which is poised to improve Mideast stability, economic opportunity, and which will disincentivize some of the region’s most egregious sponsors of terror, is lamentable, and will surely be received with bewilderment and disapproval by many voters in Rep. Bowman’s district,” it reads.
“Disturbing to see Rep. Bowman oppose peace deals,” tweeted AIPAC. “The Abraham Accords knocked down barriers between millions, fueling dialogue, trade and progress. There is nothing progressive about opposing this tectonic shift toward openness and peace. Stand for peace, not more division.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres even subtweeted his colleague for withdrawing support. “One cannot claim to oppose the economic and diplomatic isolation of Israel yet oppose the Abraham Accords because it fails to economically and diplomatically isolate Israel,” he wrote on Twitter. “That makes no sense even by the distorted logic of the BDS movement.”
“One can and should advocate for Palestinian dignity and sovereignty without delegitimizing Israel as a Jewish state or delegitimizing the Abraham Accords as a bonafide breakthrough for peace,” Torres continued. “The Abraham Accords PREVENTED the annexation of the West Bank, which, had it not been prevented, would have foreclosed even the possibility of a two-state solution. Thank God cooler heads prevailed.”
Maybe supporting a series of Trump-era arms deals between authoritarian governments is the pro-Israel progressivism that Ro Khanna alluded to.
Odds & Ends
? The Middle East Studies Association sent a letter to Arizona lawmakers, calling on them to oppose the adoption of the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism. The state is currently considering a bill that would do just that:
As we have repeatedly pointed out, this definition is not only flawed but dangerous, because it conflates criticism of Israeli actions and policies, of Israel as a state and of Zionism as a political ideology with antisemitism. The bill requires Arizona’s universities and community colleges to use this broad and vague definition when adopting policies to prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion, which may result in the sanctioning of faculty, students or staff who express opinions that are critical of Israel but not by any reasonable definition antisemitic. More broadly, it may have a chilling effect on teaching about, and public discussion of, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on community college and university campuses in Arizona.
?? Elisabeth Brocking in Responsible Statecraft on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was destroyed and how it could have helped avoid conflict in Eastern Europe:
Negotiated as a bloc-to-bloc agreement between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the treaty limited key categories of equipment needed to mount large-scale attacks and established an aggressive inspection regime. CFE survived the collapse of the Pact and the emergence of successor states to the USSR, bringing most of them into the treaty’s structure while reducing weapons, providing extensive transparency regarding both holdings and military exercises, and establishing channels of communication.
However, NATO expansion upset key treaty provisions. Moscow pressed for revisions reflecting new realities, and treaty parties agreed in 1999 to an Adapted CFE, known as ACFE. NATO states, unfortunately, dragged their feet for years on ratifications by raising objections to some Russian military deployments (which Russia either withdrew or had authorized by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe), continuing to expand the alliance at a rapid rate, and gaining the advantage of loopholes in the original agreement to potentially station forces in the Baltic states much closer to the Russian border.
?? Biden seizing billions from war-torn Afghanistan has to be the cruelest moment of the administration so far. Of course millions are suffering because of the U.S. war, which makes the move even more sadistic. Many are demanding the U.S. reverse the decision, but imagine the reaction if Trump had done this.
?? One of Biden’s only positive foreign policy moves has been reversing Trump’s decision to designate the Houthis as terrorists. Now the administration is actually contemplating reinstating it. Ken Klippenstein in The Intercept:
The White House appears to be seriously considering the change. In late January, Biden’s National Security Council circulated a memo exploring the possibility, according to a U.S. intelligence official and a think tank official familiar with the matter. The memo, a policy options paper produced by the NSC, considers labeling the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, Specially Designated Global Terrorists, or a combination of both, the two sources told The Intercept on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
A bipartisan group of House members just sent Biden a letter calling on him to make the move.
?? Longtime U.S. ally and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández was arrested for allegedly smuggling over 1 million pounds of cocaine into the United States.
?? An anti-BDS bill was defeated in Virginia.
?? Juan Cole:
Stephanie Nebehay at Reuters reports that Iraq has finally paid off the $52.4 billion in war reparations imposed on it by the United Nations as punishment for its invasion and attempted annexation of Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1991.
The headline we’ll never see is that the United States paid off reparations for its illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.
?? Last fall Phil Weiss wrote about the backlash to an Israel trip, organized by Oberlin instructors, that was supposed to build “bridges” between U.S. progressives and Israelis…without mention of Palestine. The trip was slated for the winter break in January, and Palestinian solidarity activists organized against it saying that it was enabling “genocide.” It was subsequently canceled. The school’s president says it was nixed over COVID concerns.
? Reuters reports that Biden will seek more than $770 billion for the 2023 military budget.
?? Derek Leebaert has a great piece in Mondoweiss on the first U.S.-Israeli showdown in 1957.
Stay safe out there,
Michael
