"US media and pro-Israel antics in Congress" Odd Amendment placed in the TPA/TPP:
US media and pro-Israel antics in Congress
by James Zogby
The New York Times’ coverage of congressional antics related to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation has ignored so many critical aspects of the bill that it might be time for the “paper of record” to change its motto from “All the news that’s fit to print” to “All the news we think fits, we print.”
Here’s why.
On 2 March, the Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously to insert an amendment into the TPA legislation. According to its principal sponsor, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), the amendment would “include among the principal negotiating objectives of the United States regarding commercial partnerships ... discouraging activity that ... penalises, or otherwise limits commercial relations with Israel.”
The intended targets of this effort are the countries of the European Union that have called on Israel to clearly mark whether products they export originate in settlements in occupied Palestinian lands.
For the first 14 years of the occupation, the US called Israeli settlement construction “illegal”. Beginning with the Reagan administration, however, the US dumbed down its language and began referring to settlements as “unhelpful”, “illegitimate”, or “an obstacle to peace.” Europe, on the other hand, has been consistent in affirming the international consensus position that such settlements are in violation of international law.
Having wearied of Israel’s refusal to abide by conventions that ban the expropriation of, or transfer of population into, occupied lands, Europe’s actions are intended to send a clear message of displeasure with Israel’s continued flagrant violation of these laws, as well as making a statement that Europe will not be party to Israel’s efforts to derive economic benefits from the settlements.
Fearing that European pressure will only grow as Israel’s government rejects efforts to end its occupation activities, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Washington’s pro-Israel lobby, made it a legislative priority to suborn the US government, making it a defender of Israel’s settlement policies.
Enter Ben Cardin and his colleagues. At the behest of AIPAC, Cardin introduced his amendment, which defines the actions that US trade officials must include in negotiating trade arrangements with EU partners in order to discourage agreements with countries that have instituted measures “that are politically motivated and are intended to penalise or otherwise limit commercial relations specifically with Israel or persons doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories.”
Similar, though more far-reaching, language has also been inserted in House and Senate legislation governing US customs’ authorisation. It is especially troubling that the words “in Israeli-controlled territories” have been inserted in these amendments.
This language, which equates Israel with the territories Israel occupied in 1967, replicates the language recently used by Israel’s Supreme Court in a controversial ruling against any advocacy of boycott, divestment or sanctions activity in Israel. The TPA as amended will, for the first time, make the US complicit in shielding Israel’s settlement activity from any international scrutiny or penalty.
This effort to defend Israel’s behaviour and to pit the US against its European trading partners is disturbing. Equally so is the disingenuous way members of Congress have sought to explain their actions.
More at:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/12310/21/US-media-and-pro-Israel-antics-in-Congress.aspx?
