TEL AVIV — Senator Bernie Sanders signed a letter Tuesday pushed by four House progressives including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), that calls for the U.S. to cut aid to Israel over its plan to apply sovereignty across parts of the West Bank.
The letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also signed by Pramila Jayapal (Washington) and Betty McCollum (Minnesota).
It said they would work to ensure the annexation would not be recognized and aid to the country would be conditioned on Israel’s settlement spending and human rights record, according to a copy obtained by Jewish Insider:
Should the Israeli government move forward with the planned annexation with this administration’s acquiescence, we will work to ensure non-recognition as well as pursue conditions on the $3.8 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel, including human rights conditions and withholding funds for the off-shore procurement of Israeli weapons equal to or exceeding the amount the Israeli government spends annually to fund settlements, as well as the policies and practices that sustain and enable them.
It also warned applying Israeli law to parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley would “lay the groundwork for Israel becoming an apartheid state.”
The pro-Israel AIPAC lobby slammed the move, saying the letter they wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “explicitly threatens the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that would damage American interests, risk the security of Israel & make a two-state solution less likely.”
AIPAC opposes the letter being circulated by @RepAOC—cosigned by @RepJayapal, @RepRashida & @BettyMcCollum04—which explicitly threatens the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that would damage American interests, risk the security of Israel & make a two-state solution less likely.
— AIPAC (@AIPAC) June 29, 2020
McCollum has accused AIPAC of being a “hate group” after it ran an ad suggesting “radical” Democrats are “more sinister” than ISIS.
Last week, 191 of 233 House Democrats in the House signed a letter warning of the dangers of annexation which AIPAC also opposed.
Another 116 House Republicans sent a letter to Netanyahu endorsing his proposal to apply Israeli law to parts of the West Bank.
The Trump administration’s “vision for peace” sees Israel annexing 30 percent of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley but in recent weeks administration officials have become more reticent to allow Israel to go ahead with the plan.
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