104
OCTOBER 7, 2021 | The Jewish Home
16
OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Israel Today
What is the “Two-State Solution” About? By Caroline Glick
L
ast week, after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the supplemental spending bill for the Iron Dome program, everyone from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the Biden White House, to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid quickly proclaimed bipartisan support in Washington for the U.S.-Israel alliance is as strong as it ever was. Unfortunately, even before the bill passed, it was clear that the opposite was the case. Eight House members from the leftist edge of the political spectrum voted against the Iron Dome funding and two of their comrades voted “present.” The only reason the measure was brought to a vote last week was because, days earlier, the same House members blocked supplemental funding for the Iron Dome program from being included on an omnibus continuous spending resolution. By first scuttling and then opposing the funding of a joint Israeli-U.S. system that is entirely defensive and works
only to prevent the wanton murder of Israeli civilians by indiscriminate missile attacks, the lawmakers were saying that they supported the Palestinians in their terror war against Israel. Reps. Marie Newman, Andre Carson, Hank Johnson, Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Jesus Garcia, Raul Grijalva, Ayanna Presley and their Republican comrade Thomas Massey opposed the Iron Dome funding package because they support the terror war that Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and their brethren in Hezbollah wage against the people of Israel. They don’t want to fund Iron Dome because they want Israel to lose to the terrorists. But for all the drama that the Squad members produced around the Iron Dome bill, their stunt was a sideshow. The main anti-Israel/ pro-Palestinian terrorism action was taking place elsewhere. A few hours before the House voted on the supplemental Iron Dome funding, Rep. Andy Levin, a progres-
sive Jewish lawmaker from Michigan who voted in favor of the supplemental Iron Dome funding, submitted his own bill that related to the Palestinians and Israel. And Levin’s bill is far more dangerous to Israel and to U.S.-Israel relations than his fellow progressive lawmakers’ nay vote on the Iron Dome. The main purpose of Levin’s bill, which is co-sponsored by 24 other members (seven of whom are also Jewish), is to support the Palestinian terror against Israel, while adopting a laundry list of anti-Israel policies along the way. Levin’s bill includes an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 that defines the PLO as a terrorist organization and bars the U.S. from permitting the PLO to open offices in the U.S. or from receiving assistance from the U.S. so long as the PLO and its member organizations remain engaged in terrorism. Levin’s bill would amend the law to provide the administration with the authority to permit the opening of a PLO office in Washington and to transfer funds
to the PLO/Palestinian Authority even while the PLO and its member groups remain engaged in terrorism. Levin’s bill enables the administration to sidestep the law simply by proclaiming that opening a PLO office in Washington and funding the PLO/PA is necessary to advance “diplomacy.” Whereas the 2018 Taylor Force Act bars the U.S. from funding the PA so long as it pays salaries to terrorists and their families, Levin’s bill would enable the administration to transfer funds directly to the PA even if it continues to pay salaries to terrorists and their families. Levin’s bill empowers the secretary of state to authorize such funding simply by proclaiming that the PA is “reforming” its payment apparatus. As Palestinian Media Watch reported this week, the PA already believes that U.S. funding will be restored despite the fact that nearly 10% of the PA budget goes towards paying salaries to terrorists and their families. A senior PA official said that reinstating U.S. funding “is merely a problem of semantics.” Levin’s bill provides the
