It looks like the congressional debate over whether to close the PLO office in Washington is far from over. Arutz Sheva reports that a bipartisan group of lawmakers began circulating a letter calling for a strong response to the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid, including the closure of the PLO office:
Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Edward Royce (R-Calif.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) are circulating a letter in response to the Palestinian Authority’s successful bid at the United Nation (sic), urging that the U.S. to utilize “every means at our disposal to ensure that this General Assembly vote does not serve as a precedent for elevating the status of the PLO in other UN bodies or international forums.”
“We are deeply disappointed and upset that the Palestinian leadership rebuffed the entreaties of your Administration and the Congress and insisted on pursuing this distinctly unhelpful initiative,” the letter states.
Echoing the apprehension of the mainstream Jewish community, the lawmakers assert that, “This Palestinian action violated both the letter and spirit of the Oslo Accords, and it opened the door for expanded Palestinian efforts to attack, isolate, and delegitimize Israel in a variety of international forums- a threat which, even if unrealized, would hang over Israel’s head during any future negotiations or any effort by the Israeli government to defend its citizens from terrorism.” …
“We can do this by closing the PLO office in Washington, D.C. We can also call our Consul-General in Jerusalem home for consultations. We urge you to take these steps,” the letter adds.
Ros-Lehtinen is the outgoing chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Royce is the incoming chair, indicating that this is likely to be taken up by the committee next year. Whether it would be considered as a standalone bill or an amendment is unclear at this point, and we probably won’t know more details until the beginning of the next session. But it’s a debate worth watching closely, in no small part because it pits left-wing lobby J Street (which opposes the initiative) against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (which has supported it):
The initiative is backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and opposed by the extreme left leaning groups of J Street and Peace Now.
Voicing its opposition, J Street, which has long been accused of espousing anti-Israel beliefs, launched an effort Monday to discourage House of Representatives members from signing the letter.
“At a time when the United States should be looking for ways to encourage and deepen diplomacy, talk of ejecting one of the parties from the country defies logic,” J Street said in its action alert.
J Street already claimed victory when a proposed amendment to close the PLO office wasn’t included in the defense authorization bill recently approved by the Senate. As I reported last week, there is no sign this had anything do with J Street’s supposed lobbying prowess. According to the office of Lindsey Graham, one of the sponsors of the amendment, it wasn’t included because it wasn’t technically considered germane. Jewish community sources familiar with the issue also tell me that the Obama administration objected to the amendment, making it unlikely to pass through the unanimous consent process.
In total, around 400 amendments were reportedly proposed for the defense bill, and the majority weren’t included in the final legislation. But that still didn’t stop J Street from sending out this triumphant email headlined “Victory”:
Earlier this week, we asked you to help us stop the Senate from kicking the Palestinian Diplomatic Mission out of Washington, DC in retaliation for last week’s United Nations vote.
You responded, sending 14,500 emails and making almost 1,000 calls telling Senators the US should not take such a counterproductive step.
And, as ThinkProgress,1 JTA2 and The Forward3 have all made crystal clear: YOU DID IT. The Senate held back, and the amendment to expel the Palestinian Mission was dropped.
Clearly J Street’s celebration was a little premature.
I stand by what I said earlier — the amendment was an intemperate and impulsive "in your face" to J Street and when folks realized something about the amendment in the sober light of day, they realized that they had to make it disappear for some legitimate reason that they hadn't thought about earlier.
It’s too stooopid of Alana Goodman to refer to Arutz Sheva report and foster the same. She’s a deranged Israelifirster. In spite J-Street and Peace-Now shout: “QUIT Bu2721TCHING”. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Howard Berman, Edward Royce and Eliot Engel begin circulating letter to close down PLO’S DC office. I am thrilled to see these losers’ faces when they lose their seats at the House. Palestine is fact and Israel is hoax that’s what’s terrifies everyone. Who’s Abbas to deal with Israel for war or peace? Israelis are too dumb to understand that Oslo is dead as Tel Aviv. Israelis still think that DC can bring Palestinians to King David Hotel Filthy Table for discussion. On my dead body.
At last, you have posted not one but three sentiments I can hearttily endorse – Abbas could not deliver peace if he wanted to (which he doesn't), Oslo is dead, and the last sentence in your post.
lol
Will someone please kill this maniac slowly and painfully.
hahahaha nGo back to Nigeria Zionazi Bleached Nu2721gga or I call the goood ol’ “DD” David Duke the Grand Wizard of Knights of KU-KLUX-KLAN to skew your USDA-Subsidized-Kibbutz-FATASS on Kerosene Flame; lynch you from your Hasidic Magein David Reeky Rectum on Fiery Cross. The goood ol! “DD” will Barbeque you for free. It’s “DD” Obsession to Relief USA from All-Time-Liability State of Israel and the CHOSEN ONES who murdered JESUS. Better watch-out Menajahtwa Muthafukahuh! Taliban got your IP+GPS coordinates now. They’re too glad to turn you to Toothpicks & Chopsticks and put your picture in Yad Vashem
it isn't often we get threatened with anal rape and mass gassing by tweeners. so you can connect to the internet from your nintendo? this does not end well cloture. eventually they kick you out of the special ed track and you just end up circling down the drain in the system until you disappear–all the sparks and six pointed stars get sucked back into the black hole of institutional indifference and then the big silence. n nhere's the big secret kid, the problem isn't rust but flame out. if, if you make it, all this jacked up hodaddy outlaw hoohaw at best gets you to the big stall at 30 and then it falls away in pieces. n nbut please, entertain us.
that would be his life slowly and painfully
There's no reason why it can't be 'closed' by other means. Similar to how the Arab street shows its displeasure. With fire and carbombs. What's the worst that happens? Tom Friedman blames the Jews? Big Woop.
and I'm sure that your mouth could also be closed with fire and bombs…….. but that might not be the correct thing to do
the office ain't gonna be closed and the jerks playing around with trying to vote on closing it are the usual rabid idiots.
your comments are too worthlessly inane to even approach humor. n nif you were ever to be given an enema, most of the contents of your cranium would hit the bucket.
boooooooring googledjunk nCry Auschwitz Dachau Birkenau bu2721stu2721rd n
I'm sure that your mother has the most buttock hair of any of the region's farm animals.
hahahaha nwow you're really obsessed with Yair & Avner rectum Hairs. Quit Monsanto GMOs nmilk your prostate, your seminal fluid is gushn' outta yu' nostrils nHere's the deal. Ignoramus Scu2721mbag nLie down on your back, bend your legs up in the air. Get smooth dildo like TANTUS silk. start with small dildo, but eventually you want bigger one. lube up your Asshu2721le and lube the dildo up and slide it in your u2721ss with curve aimed towards your front. Move it back and front, slowly at first then faster. you'll feel an amazing sensation right in the tip of your reeky varna rectum and sex thirsty ANUS. Call me if you wish to enterprise your rear. n
not only is Royce replacing term-limited (for House chairs) Ros-Lehtinen (who will still be on the FRCom), but Engel will be the ranking member, replacing Berman. That is very important because, in a CA re-districting oddity, Berman lost his seat to Brad Sherman, who was already the second most senior dem on the House FRCom. n nfwiw, Sherman would have succumbed to J-Street. maybe he already has. n nNot Eliot Engel. Not ever. His win to be ranking member is a small sign that the dems have not gone totally off their Jerusalem-cliff.
Bolton, of course, is rather unbalanced and has been out to lunch for several decades.
Correction – Bolton is one of the least imbalanced ambassadors the US has had in a long time, and for precisely that reason is routinely smeared as out-to-lunch by out-to-lunch dreamers who are frightened to admit to themselves that he is telling the truth, because it threatens their secure and deluded little world view.
sorry, aha, but I'm not smearing him. he is what he is and wile it's occasionally amusing to read his rants about other unbalanced and malign creeps, and the UN is rife with them, that doesn't change a jot or tittle in the addition of the bilious, volcanic and entirely undiplomatic Officer Bolton.