|
|
|
ISRAEL ÜBER ALLES!
Congressional
whorehouse
Congress
Passes Israel Support Measure WASHINGTON—Congress clasped Israel in a warm embrace on Thursday, voting overwhelmingly in rapid succession to give its blessing to Israel in its military campaign against the people of occupied Palestine. In two separate resolutions, the House and the Senate expressed their unqualified support for the Jewish state to do as it sees fit in the current Middle East crisis. "Let every terrorist know, the American people will never abandon freedom, democracy or Israel," said Texas Rep. Tom DeLay [$40,000 from pro-Israeli lobbies] shortly before the House voted overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation. Recent attacks directed against Israelis, the House GOP whip added, "are attacks against liberty, and all free people must recognize that Israel's fight is our fight." "Israel has been under siege . . . from a systematic and deliberate campaign of suicide and homicide attacks by terrorists," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the leading sponsor of the measure that cleared the Senate. "Their essence is identical to the attacks on our country of Sept. 11," he said. Both measures said the United States and Israel are "now engaged in a common struggle against terrorism." But the bill that DeLay, a conservative who has been outspoken in his support of Israel in recent months, and Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., sent to the House floor was the more sharply worded of the two. It mentioned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat by name and accused him of an "ongoing support of terror" in the wave of bombings against Israelis this spring. The House acted on a stand-alone resolution, passing it by 352-21. Twenty-nine lawmakers voted present, several of them saying they had wanted more balanced legislation. Lieberman and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., offered their proposal as an amendment to trade legislation. The vote was 96-2. The two Congressional resolutions were non-binding, but they put the legislative branch of the American government on record as backing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's military steps, even as President Bush was calling on Israel to end its occupation of several Palestinian towns and calling on Yasir Arafat to show more "leadership." Members of Congress in both chambers and both parties, eager to show solidarity with Israel, have long chafed at the silence the administration asked of Congress at a time when American diplomats worked to stave off a wider outbreak of violence in the Middle East. Now they are rushing to to assert their opinions on the current crisis, as they express their solidarity with Israel and its American Jewish and conservative Christian supporters. But their actions served to complicate the already delicate diplomacy that Mr. Bush is trying to conduct to end the violence and restart negotiations among the parties. In emotional debate House members and Senate members, from the left and from the right, repeatedly branded Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat as a "terrorist." Meanwhile, Mr. Sharon is due to arrive in Washington next week for talks with Mr. Bush. Administration officials have tried in recent weeks to urge the Israeli prime minister to withdraw his forces from the West Bank and moderate the severity of military actions against Palestinians. The Congressional votes in effect endorsed those policies and will make it more difficult for Mr. Bush and other top administration officials to counsel Mr. Sharon to exercise restraint. In the House, in a sign of growing tensions between President Bush and his conservative base, House Republican leaders and conservatives showed little patience for any calls for middle ground in the Middle East. The House majority leader even advocated a position supported by only the far right in Israel. "I'm content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank," said Representative Dick Armey, the majority leader from Texas [$11,000 from pro-Israeli lobbies], in an appearance on MSNBC's "Hardball" on the eve of the vote. He added flatly under questioning, "I happen to believe that the Palestinians should leave."
Remember the LIBERTY?
|
| |
