3-5-2014 House delivers for AIPAC, 410-1, passing Israel as 'strategic partner' bill - Alex Kane Mondoweiss

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/03/delivers-strategic-partner.html


The House of Representatives passed the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act by a 410-1 vote today. The legislation, a major priority for the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), designates Israel as a “major strategic partner”–a first for any U.S. ally. AIPAC members lobbied Congress to approve the bill on Tuesday…. Only Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted against the bill [a libertarian ally of Senator Rand Paul].

 

The liberal Zionist lobby group J Street applauded the bill’s passage....

 

The legislation had languished in Congress for a year.  While it was a priority for AIPAC at last year’s conference, it was held up because of concerns that it would codify Israel’s discrimination against activists and Arab- and Palestinian-American travelers.  Those concerns, pushed to the forefront by a coalition of groups, led to the stripping out of language that gave Israel a right to deny entry to travelers if they threatened the state’s security.  The security pretext is a favored tool used by Israeli authorities to deny people entry.

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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