FMEP Legislative Round-Up October 11, 2024

Resource

1. Bills, Resolutions
2. Letters
3. Hearings
4. Israel/Palestine in 2024 Elex/Politics
5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements

New from FMEP:

  • New episode of FMEP’s Occupied Thoughts podcast: The (Bipartisan) Betrayal of Arab Americans, ft. FMEP fellow Peter Beinart in conversation with Maya Berry, Executive Director of the Arab American Institute. The two discuss Maya’s experience testifying on hate crimes before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, where several Republican Senators challenged her in a manner reflecting clear anti-Arab bias/prejudice/hate. Peter and Maya also discuss Maya’s testimony on anti-Arab hate crimes and why it’s so difficult to collect good data on them. Additionally, Peter and Maya talk about the 2024 presidential election and the ways in which Vice President Kamala Harris has botched her relationship with Arab Americans.

Also see: Israel and Hamas Conflict In Brief: Overview, U.S. Policy, and Options for Congress (Congressional Research Service, Update 10/4/24)

1. Bills & Resolutions

2. Letters

3. Hearings & Markups

None [Congress not in session]

4. Israel/Palestine in 2024 Politics/Elex

General/National

Maryland

Pennsylvania

California

  • Jewish Insider 10/10/24: UDP launches ad campaign against David Kim, far-left Dem challenging Rep. Jimmy Gomez [“David Kim, a third-time challenger to Gomez, supports cutting off U.S. aid to Israel, said the U.S. should try to force governmental change in Israel and expressed support for BDS“]
  • ABC7 News 10/9/24: Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey discuss top issues facing California during U.S. Senate Candidate Forum [“‘The United States needs to continue to support its ally Israel in its right to defend itself,’ said Schiff. ‘No nation state could go through that kind of attack and not defend itself. What’s more, we cannot have a situation where [Hamas] continues to control Gaza or threaten the lives of Israelis, Americans and others. So we need to support Israel. At the same time, we need to make sure that we’re doing all we can to ultimately bring about a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live in security and peace.’ Garvey responded, saying, ‘I’ve said from the beginning that I support Israel yesterday, today and tomorrow. I will stand by them for all their needs, at any time, but I could never tell them they can’t protect their sovereignty.’ ‘We need to get the hostages back,’ he continued. ‘But let’s face it, in two administrations, with the Obama and the Biden administration, [Schiff] voted for significant packages of billions of dollars to Iran. Why to pander to Iran?'”]

Georgia

Michigan

Florida

5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements

October 7, 2023 anniversary

  • Many, many members of Congress issued statements or published social media posts expressing support for/solidarity with Israel on the anniversary of the 10/7/23 Hamas attacks on Israel.
  • Many include language in effect blaming Iran for the 10/7 attacks.
  • Some explicitly or implicitly frame the Hamas attack as an attack on the Jewish people (as opposed to on Israel/Israelis).
  • Many include support for Israel’s war on Gaza, its war on Lebanon, and its impending attack on Iran.
  • Many talk about the imperative for the US to stand with Israel until “victory”
  • Many talk about Israeli hostages and the imperative to save them, notwithstanding the fact that the Israeli government appears to have long ago written them off as necessary collateral damage in its war on Gaza.
  • A very small number mention Palestinian suffering and casualties, or anything about restraint, de-escalation, ceasefire, concern over regional war, or criticize the Israeli govt, etc….
  • Some use the anniversary to double down on conflating protest of Israel/Zionism/Israel’s actions post-Oct 7, especially on US campuses, with antisemitism and vowed to shut down such protests.
  • There are just too many to cover here – check members’ websites and social media accounts to see what any particular member said.

Also see (just a small taste of the coverage):

Graham & Blumenthal in Israel

Targeting Free Speech/Protest/Academia

A Special Section ft. Stunning/unhinged statements/posts by Reps. Torres & Fetterman

  • Torres (D-NY) 10/9/24: X-post attacking Zeteo’s Mehdi Hassan and accusing him of antisemitism for a post recalling (accurately) that Bin Laden stated that it was Israel’s 1982 attacks on Lebanon that inspired him to target the Twin Towers [Bin Laden stated: “…God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers but after the situation became unbearable and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed – when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the US sixth fleet. In those difficult moments many emotions came over me which are hard to describe, but which produced an overwhelming feeling to reject injustice and a strong determination to punish the unjust. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way [and] to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women.”]
  • Torres (D-NY) 10/9/24: X-thread supporting/cheering on US Jews organizations that are firing Jewish employees over criticism of Israel – Torres wrote: “Expecting pro-Israel Jewish organizations to associate with Anti-Zionists is as absurd as expecting Black organizations to associate with white supremacists. No community should be compelled to embrace its enemies. The freedom to associate means the freedom to disassociate.“
  • Torres (D-NY) 10/9/24: X-thread defending the NBC journalist for his attack/interview of Ta-Nahesi Coates – using a Free Press headline as the hook, suggesting that Coates “harbors a deep-seated bias against Israel” and “has neither expertise on Israel nor interest in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict“, and ends with a screenshot of a headline suggesting that Coates’s father is an antisemite and noting, “A possible explanation of Coates’ ‘skepticism about Zionism as a project.‘”
  • Torres (D-NY) 10/9/24: X-thread attacking a [Black, female] professor at Queens College for daring to use the term “genocide” to describe what Israel is doing in Gaza  – with a photo taken during class and a photo of part in effect doxxing the professor and her class (name, class, time, room) — he wrote: “On October 7th, at Queens College, in a course entitled ‘Introduction to Women and Gender Studies,’ a professor could not resist the pathological urge to demonize the Jewish State during the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Instead of condemning Hamas’ genocidal campaign to murder as many Jews as it could on October 7th, this propagandist pretending to be a professor falsely frames Israel’s war of self-defense as a genocide against Palestinians. Academic malpractice at its most malicious.“
  • Torres (D-NY) 10/8/24: X-post calling for Beyonce’s creative director to be fired for criticism of Israel/zionism – with a link a TMZ article about the attack, and adding, “Andrew Makadsi, who is the creative director for Beyonce, should be fired for glorifying violence and amplifying antisemitism. There should be zero tolerance for Jew hatred.“
  • Fetterman (D-PA) 10/8/24: X-post “thank u next” – accompanying a screenshot of a Reuters article entitled, “Israel’s [defense minister] Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated”. Gallant re-posted Fetterman’s post with the comment: “Working on it.“
  • Post Gazette 10/6/24: U.S. Sen. John Fetterman says he’ll support any Israeli response to Iran missile attack [“The senator says Iran is ‘on the ropes’ thanks to Israeli attacks against its terrorist allies“]

Other Stuff