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miJEWtiae
By WJW Staff , Rockville, Md
akredo@washingtonjewishweek.com
Friday, July 31, 2009
A 'comic hypocrisy' on foreign aid to Israel
Adam Kredo
"It's the height of hypocrisy," according to David Harris, the National Jewish Democratic Council's president.
Harris is referring to a letter circulated this week by two House Republicans expressing their "deep concerns" about the Obama administration's "commitment" toward foreign aid to Israel.
"Foreign assistance to Israel may be in danger," write Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), aiming to "reaffirm congressional support for upholding strong ties between our government and the state of Israel."
The only caveat: Both lawmakers voted against the recent Foreign Appropriations bill, which included about $2.2 billion in aid for Israel. In fact, 97 of 173 House Republicans voted "Nay" on the aid package.
(Foxx, however, did release a statement explaining that while she fully supports aid to Israel, the bill's price tag was too large to vote in favor of. Similarly, a spokesperson for Jordan's office said the that the Congressman is "a strong supporter of Israel" and voted against the bill for both fiscal and ideological reasons.)
"If you care deeply about aid to Israel, you should vote for aid to Israel," said the NJDC's Harris, who labeled the effort a "comic hypocrisy."
"Letters are lovely, but not really as meaningful as a vote," he said.
The lawmakers don't appear to think so.
Attached to the letter is a "Dear colleague" note, urging other House Republicans to co-sign the missive "regardless of how you voted on the FY10 House Foreign Operations Appropriations bill."
And that they did.
Altogether, 23 other House Republicans signed onto the letter of concern, including Reps. Eric Cantor and Frank Wolf, both of Virginia. In total, 15 of the 23 signatories, including Wolf, voted against the foreign aid bill.
(A full list of those who signed the letter can be found below, along with their vote on the aid bill.)
"If I was going to vote against foreign aid, I'd do it very quietly in the cover of night," and not circulate a letter about it, said Harris, pointing out that the foreign appropriations bill is "a common yardstick" used by the Jewish community to gauge congressional support of Israel.
The Republican Jewish Coalition declined comment.
Here's the full list of co-signers:
Cosign list:
Cantor (voted for the aid package)
Conaway (voted against the aid package)
Luetkemeyer (against)
Myrick (against)
Burton (for)
Moran (KS) (for)
Blackburn (against)
Culberson (against)
Harper (for)
Latta (against)
Lamar Smith (against)
L. Diaz-Balart (for)
Gary Miller (against)
Lamborn (for)
Gerlach (for)
Inglis (for)
Bill Young (against)
Goodlatte (against)
Boozman (against)
Coble (against)
Broun (against)
McHenry (against)
Wolf (against)
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Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, August 01, 2009
Article comment by:
cowpuncer2
The Pro Israeli political faction in our government is draining this nation for their own nationalism. They care only enough about the American people to have them fight the Arabs for them. The great tragedy of the Middle East in the last sixty years is equal only to tragedy of the Holocaust. Who knew the Jews would behave like their persecutor, even worse?
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