web analytics
June 19, 2013 / 11 Tammuz, 5773
At a Glance
News
Sponsored Post
Bicycle in South Pioneers of the Periphery: Olim of the South

Got that pioneering spirit? You’re invited to help build Israel’s periphery by planting roots in southern soil with Nefesh B’Nefesh.



Congress to Obama: Time to Punish Arabs for Blowing Up Oslo and Blowing Off the US

In a letter circulated to members of Congress by the PLO Envoy, Aerikat sought to dissuade Congress from responding to the PA provocation.

tell a friend
President Obama meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House.

President Obama meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House.

A bi-partisan majority of congressional members sent a letter to U.S. President Barak Obama late last week.  In the letter, the members insist that the time has come for this U.S. government to hold the Arab Palestinian leadership responsible for their bald refusal to comply with repeated requests from the United States government to refrain from seeking an enhanced status at the United Nations General Assembly, as is required of the Arabs under the Oslo Agreements under which it is bound.

The PLO pledged in the Oslo Agreements that it would take no unilateral actions to change the status of the disputed territories and Gaza.

Congressional leadership that has long been involved in working with Israel and the Arab Palestinians in attempts to resolve the Middle East conflict, such as U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee, U.S. Reps. Edward R. Royce (R-CA) and Eliot L. Engel (D-NY, Chairman-designate and Ranking Member-designate, respectively, of the Committee, along with more than 230 other members of  Congress, signed and sent the letter to the President on Friday, December 21.

The letter informed the President that “we believe the United States must react strongly to the ‘Palestinian’ leadership’s failure to uphold its obligations,” and explained that in order to send a clear message of U.S. disapproval, the Arab leaders must learn that their actions are not “cost-free,” and, “at a minimum, they result in setbacks to U.S.-’Palestinian’ relations.”

Congressional members suggested that the minimal steps the U.S. should take at this time would be to close the PLO office in Washington, D.C. and to call on the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem – who is, illogically, responsible for relations with the Arab Palestinians but not Jewish or Arab Israelis – back to Washington for consultations.

The congressional letter to President Obama points out the necessity for the U.S. government to ensure that the UNGA vote on November 29 “does not serve as a precedent for elevating the status of the PLO in other UN bodies or international forums.”

Should the PLO attempt to force its hand by seeking membership in those other UN institutions, the congressional members told President Obama that, “we should do everything possible to make sure that does not happen, including by reaffirming our commitment to maintaining and enforcing U.S. laws that require withholding U.S. contributions from any international forum that grants membership to the PLO.”

The PLO envoy in Washington, Maen Aerikat, told the Palestinian News Agency Ma’an, that the congressional letter “is an attempt by Congress to undermine the U.S. administration in any possible role it is planning to play in Palestinian affairs.”

In addition to pointing out that “punitive measures won’t pay off.  If they were effective we would have already changed our mind,” Aerikat railed at Israel, suggesting it was behind the congressional effort.  He said, “It is a political decision, a decision on the part of the Israeli government to escalate things against the Palestinian people at home and here…the U.S. is their other front.”

In a letter circulated to members of Congress by the PLO Envoy on December 14, Aerikat sought to dissuade Congress from responding to the PA provocation.  Aerikat makes several points in his letter, one of which should qualify for the Chutzpah Hall of Fame.  Perhaps he forgot that the action taken by Congress was in response to the decision by his colleagues to spurn dialogue and negotation, and instead to take unilateral action by introducing a one-sided resolution at the U.N.  This is what Aerikat wrote:

Engagement and dialogue is the only way to express the views of Congress.  Biased and one-sided resolutions cannot contribute to an atmosphere that is conducive for a political resolution to the conflict.

Not all Jews supported the congressional effort.  In the interview with Ma’an, Aerikat appreciatively listed both J Street and Americans for Peace Now as organizations that oppose the initiative to punish the Arab Palestinians for violating the Oslo Accords by seeking unilateral changes through the UN vote.  Although not mentioned by the PLO Envoy, the Union for Reform Judaism has also actively lobbied against congressional efforts to shutter the PLO Office.

Pages: 1 2 All Pages
tell a friend

About the Author: Lori Lowenthal Marcus is the US correspondent for The Jewish Press. She is a recovered lawyer who previously practiced First Amendment law and taught in Philadelphia-area graduate and law schools.


You might also be interested in:


If you don't see your comment after publishing it, refresh the page.

19 comments so far

19 Responses to “Congress to Obama: Time to Punish Arabs for Blowing Up Oslo and Blowing Off the US”

  1. Arie's Pragmatic Politics says:

    Once Obama's presidency is over – that is IF he goes quietly and does not try to foment violence in his "Arab spring" effort to retain power – he will join Carter and Clinton on their Saudi financed global "Let's kill a Jew Tour."

  2. I love the line about the PLO representative's letter deserving to be in the "Chutzpah Hall of Fame." Thank you for bringing this news to the public's attention.

  3. Chaiya Eitan says:

    Thank you, Congress!

  4. Ethan Perks says:

    J Street and Americans for Peace Now are both anti Zionist left wing groups funded by Soros. They do not speak for most pro Israel Jews. And certainly not this Jew! I'm happy to see that whatever else may divide our politicians they still recognize that Israel is friend.

    • Arie's Pragmatic Politics says:

      Let's remember that Jeremy Ben-Ami, Director of J Street and on the direct payroll of the Nazi sympathizer Soros, stated in a videotaped interview – and available on YouTube – that the founding of the State of Israel "was the single greatest tragedy of the 20th Century." Explains why he has become the darling of Anti-Jew media like Haaretz, the NY Times, CNN, BBC and "politicians" like Obama, Rahm, Hagel, Clinton, Carter and Kerry

    • Margarita Isenstein says:

      If that's what he really said, he's a lunatic and should not have a media rostrum for his delirium

  5. Anonymous says:

    Please list all of the Representatives and Senators who did not sign the letter.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Please list all of the Representatives and Senators who did not sign the letter.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Please list all of the Representatives and Senators who did not sign the letter.

  8. Roc Diaz says:

    all what they do is blow smoke.

  9. Seeing the photo I was thinking that only one thing is clearly visible in the face of Abbas: in Arabic it is the same word for "slave" and "negro"…..

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Latest News Stories
Babs, Clinton, Peres and Netanyahu

The Israel President’s Conference kicked off on Tuesday night with a star-studded 90th birthday bash for Shimon Peres, along with an obsessive repetition of the word “peace” over and over again.

NewsIsraelIDF

The IDF Spokesperson said that the search for a possibly kidnapped soldier has been called off this evening, after all soldiers in the Binyamin and Shomron region had been accounted for. Two separate soldiers reported seeing an IDF soldier being driven off in the back of a Palestinian car in the early evening. The IDF [...]

The decision to eject the senior class of the Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn from a flight was not anti-Semitic, an internal school report found. AirTran Airways “abused its discretion” in forcing the 101 students off the early morning flight June 3 to their senior trip in Atlanta, according to the report, obtained by the [...]

An IAF BOEING 707 fueling three F-15 aircraft in flight, facilitating long-range missions, such as those being planned against Iranian nuclear sites.

What’s more important to the US, another Arab state within Israel’s current borders or the Iranian nuclear threat? The answer is in expected US arms to Israel. Despite budget cuts, it will increase.

Russia is now Iran’s spokesman. It says Iran is ready to stop enriching 20 % uranium. The West, of course, must respond by lifting sanctions, while Rohani says Iran won’t all halt all enrichment.

American actor Robert  De Niro landed in Israel with his son Tuesday morning for a 24-visit, highlighted by his appearance at this evening’s birthday bash for President Shimon Peres, who turns 9o on August 2. DeNiro, who is not Jewish, met with the president at his Jerusalem home, and among other topics, they spoke about [...]

Frieda Hikind, mother of New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind, died on Noonday at the age of 95. Her funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. (EDT) at Shomrei Hadas Chapels in Boro Park. Mrs. Hikind suffered a massive stroke last week after having been hospitalized for several weeks in Maimonides Hospital. She was born in Czechoslovakia [...]

Knee-jerk leftists still are alive and sick. An equally sick mind posted on Yair Lapid’s Facebook page a picture of him dressed as Hitler. A PR agent immediately linked the fake posting with “the black days before the murder” of Rabin

The tombstone of the late New York City Mayor Ed Koch shows his year of birth as 1942 and not 1924, due to what the engraver said was a “human error” that he will correct in the next three weeks. Koch was so concerned about his tombstone that he worked with a professional for eight [...]

It’s Revolutionary techniques 101: every time you reach a goal – start looking for the next one.

On Tuesday, prosecutors in Budapest, Hungary, charged a 98-year-old who is listed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as the most wanted war crimes suspect, for helping to deport Jews to Auschwitz in World War II, Reuters reports. Laszlo Csatary, who in 1944 served as police commander in the Nazi-occupied eastern Slovak city of Kosice, was [...]

“Hey Anthony, you’re the only one that can win and keep us on the right track!”

There is no alternative to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Bill Clinton said at an event to honor Israeli President Shimon Peres. Clinton was speaking Monday night at the Peres Academic Center in Rehovot in honor of Peres’ 90th birthday. “Your neighbors are still your neighbors,” the former U.S. president said of the [...]

Upon completion of Yeshivat Maharat’s four-year program, each graduate is qualified and equipped as a new kind of leader in the Orthodox community and beyond.

“There is a small group of evil conspirators who want to generate a chain of hatred and violence between Arabs and Jews in our country.”

The Rabbinical Council of America on Monday sent Rabbi David Stav, a Religious Zionist candidate for the post of Israel’s Chief Rabbi, a letter of encouragement, stating the organization’s full support: To the Honorable Rabbi David Stav Shlit’a, Rabbi of the town of Shoham, Chairman of the Rabbinical Organization Tzohar, the Rabbi of the Ezra [...]

More Articles from Lori Lowenthal Marcus
Just weeks before Linor Abargil became Miss World, the Israeli fashion model was brutally raped. A movie about her story, Brave Miss World, will be shown June 21 and 22 in the 2013 AFI Docs Film Festival

Tied up and raped at knifepoint, Linor Abargil was able to escape, to press charges, to find other victims of the same rapist, and make a documentary about how to speak out. Oh, and she was crowned “Miss World” just seven weeks after being raped.

Andrew Kadi delivered the Boycott Israel petition to Keys, maybe this was his next stop.

USA Today posts Boycott Israel press release as a “news” article. Lies about Israel are reprinted as if true, assisting in the effort to convince US singer Alicia Keys to boycott Israel.

Pro-Israel groups are now turning to the UJA-Federation and asking that it stop providing funds to organizations which use those funds to promote virulently anti-Israel activists. If not, a “Close Your Wallet” campaign will begin this summer.

The Muslim leader of al-Azhar offered to renew ties with the Vatican, but strongly suggested Pope Francis start off by proclaiming that Islam is a peaceful religion. A Coptic organization has suggested that Muslim leaders are the only ones who can make Islam a peaceful religion, and encouraged the Imam to take on that task.

r Liberman said that unless the EU places Hezbollah on its terrorist organization list, Israel should stop allowing the EU to meddle in Israel’s diplomacy

Erdogan blamed the “financial lobby” for Turkey’s unrest and recent economic troubles. Sound familiar?

Prof. Alan Dershowitz is a liberal intellectual Jew who supports Power. He pretty much described her this way: she has a loose mouth, she’s said things she shouldn’t have, she will need to learn to be a diplomat, but she will be the voice of the Obama administration at the United Nations. And by the way, her being perceived as anti-Israel is really kinda good for the Jews, right?

SodaStream is another Israeli miracle, so is that why the anti-Israel folks are so angry? Yes, but also it must really bug them that so many Arab Palestinians work in SodaStream factories, ignoring the haters’ boycott demands.

    Latest Poll

    Female, Orthodox, Halachic Deciders and Spiritual Leaders (Maharat)









    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/congress-to-obama-time-to-punish-arabs-for-blowing-up-oslo-and-blowing-off-the-us/2012/12/25/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online:

Close