Representative Howard Berman on unilateral statehood declaration
Shavu tov, a good week to everyone.
Here's Representative Howard Berman (D-Cal), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaking out against the 'Palestinian push for a unilateral declaration of 'statehood.'
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: William Daroff via Twitter).
After that speech, if Obama doesn't veto the 'Palestinian' motion, Berman is going to be in an awfully uncomfortable position. And no, the 'Palestinians' are not committed to peace.
It is indicative of the situation we face that when I did a Google image search for this post, as soon as I added the word "sanctions" to the word "toothless" in my search, all of the top results were related to Iran. There's a message there. Unfortunately, it's a message that is not being heard by the Obama administration.
Last Friday, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl) and Howard Berman (D-Ca) introduced significantly strengthened sanctions legislation against Iran. But Jonathan Tobin justifiably asks whether there's a point to Ros-Lehtinen's and Berman's legislation.
That ought to mean that the tyrants of Tehran will be squeezed even more in the months to come making it harder for them to continue their policies of exporting terror to the Middle East via their Hamas and Hezbollah allies as well as impacting their dangerous plans for nuclear capability. Except that it won’t. As even Ros-Lehtinen and Berman admitted after introducing their bill, sanctions passed by Congress that are not enforced by the executive branch are basically meaningless.
This is not the first Iran sanctions bill passed by Congress. Last year, another, less stringent sanctions law was passed. But the problem with that bill was not so much that it was weaker than the new bill but that the Obama administration wouldn’t enforce it. As the New York Times reportedlast December, the Treasury Department has granted over 10,000 exemptions from Iran sanctions in the last decade. The waivers that each sanctions bill includes, give the administration the power to allow companies to ignore our policy on Iran. This process has escalated during the Obama administration. The administration’s willingness to grant waivers has made a mockery of even the mild sanctions that are already in place. That renders the expected passage of the new sanctions bill a mere act of symbolism that will once again impress upon the Iranians America’s lack of seriousness.
There are two alternatives here. One is to look for ways that sanctions legislation could be made meaningful. For example, Congress could take away the President's discretion to grant waivers from the sanctions. In an election year, that might not even draw a veto from the White House, which may prefer to avoid a confrontation over its lack of enforcement of Iran sanctions. Of course, getting the President to enforce the law is a different story (look at his Attorney General!), but at least the blame for Iran's continued progress toward nuclear weapons would be squarely placed in Obama's court. Will the Democrats go along with legislation like that? I doubt it.
The other alternative would put the US in the same boat as Israel is in. Tobin points out the construction of underground missile silos in Venezuela, an issue I discussed here. Obviously, one of the things those missile silos are meant to do is to give Iran an effective second-strike capability (at least against the US) in the event that its nuclear missiles are taken out. At some point, the US will have to decide whether it will allow construction of those missile silos and the deployment of missiles therein to continue, just like Israel may at some point have to decide that it has had enough of Iran's nuclear weapons development.
One of the missiles that Iran intends to deploy in Venezuela is the Shehab-3, which can be outfitted with a nuclear warhead. This means that if Iran is allowed to continue with its plans to develop nuclear weapons, at some point in the not-too-distant future, the United States could find itself confronted with nuclear weapons in range of Florida and much of the southeastern United States. Would it be better to enact real sanctions against Iran if there is some hope of avoiding that confrontation? Definitely. Can Obama be convinced? If not, there's an election in 18 months.
Legislation has been introduced in the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, with bi-partisan support, which would guarantee that organizations like Hezbullah will not benefit from US funds.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a committee hearing on the political turmoil sweeping across the Middle East that trends in Beirut were troubling.
“In Lebanon, we have witnessed the takeover of the country by the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis,” she said in her statement.
“Even now, when the Lebanese government has been overthrown, the United States has still failed to indicate that it will cut off assistance to a proxy government for Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah,” she complained.
She called for the adoption of Berman’s Hezbollah Anti-Terrorism Act which guarantees that organizations like Hezbollah do not benefit from American taxpayers funds.
During the hearing House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Howard Berman announced that he would be introducing the new bill entitled the “Hezbollah anti-terrorism act of 2011.”
The bill would bar U.S. assistance to Lebanon unless President Barack Obama certifies to the Congress that no funds will go to Hezbollah or any of its entities under its control and that the Lebanese government is actively working to dismantle Hezbollah’s military capability.
This will be watered down to be like the provision in US assistance to the 'Palestinians' that requires the President to certify every year that they're fighting terrorism. Of course, it gets certified every year even though it's not true. What could go wrong?
Berman calls on White House to stop arms shipments to Lebanon
US Representative Howard Berman (D-Cal), the ranking minority member of the House Foreign affairs committee, has called on the Obama administration to suspend all military aid to Lebanon in light of the fact that Hezbullah will likely form the next government.
I call on President Obama immediately to suspend all weapons transfers to Lebanon and to review carefully all economic assistance programs in order to ensure that they are not inadvertently strengthening Hizbullah,” Berman said.
Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign operations, under which Lebanon aid falls, said the recent developments were likely to hurt the relationship between the two countries.
“The political transition in Lebanon is an unfortunate step backward. It is doubtful that an Iranian-backed regime will be a partner of the United States,” she said. “I will continue to monitor the situation closely and support policies that promote democracy and peace for the Lebanese people and its neighbors.”
Though Congress had already approved funds for the Lebanese Armed Forces before the government fell and the balance of power shifted toward Hizbullah, Congress can use its influence over the country’s purse strings to push for an aid shut off, pending the administration’s decision.
One Democratic aide to a member on the foreign operations appropriations subcommittee said Congress was carefully watching the situation in Lebanon and waiting for a determination from the State Department on how to deal with future disbursements to Lebanon.
He said that there were still legislators who felt it was important for American influence to be visible in the country through economic assistance but that voices for cutting off aid were now magnified.
“There are already members of Congress who’d like to see aid cut off,” he said. “The latest developments only strengthen their hand, and the fact that we now have a GOP-controlled Congress makes a cut off in aid to Lebanon even more likely.”
Yeah, those evil Republicans don't care much for the red-green alliance, do they?
House Foreign Affairs chairwoman blasts display of 'Palestinian' flag
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has blasted the display of a 'Palestinian' flag on the newly upgraded 'Palestinian mission' in Washington beginning Tuesday.
“Raising this flag in DC is part of the Palestinian leadership’s scheme to manipulate international acceptance and diplomatic recognition of a yet-to-be-created Palestinian state while refusing to directly negotiate with Israel or accept the existence of Israel as a democratic, Jewish state,” she charged in a statement.
She said the flag-hoisting continues the effort on the part of Palestinians to be recognized by foreign governments, and that it’s “part of the same strategy aimed at extracting concessions without being required to meet international commitments.”
Ros-Lehtinen also criticized the Obama administration, saying, “The US has reinforced Ramallah’s rejectionism through economic and political support, including support for the PLO office in Washington, instead of requiring that they meet all conditions in US law.”
Indeed.
I wonder how many of her colleagues on the committee would sign on to that statement. Would ranking minority member Howard Berman (D-Cal) sign onto it? I'd like to think that he would, because he is a true supporter of Israel, but I wonder if he would so vehemently criticize the Obama administration.
US House on record opposing unilateral declaration of 'Palestinian state'
Around the time that I landed in Boston on Wedensday, the US House of Representatives approved a resolution opposing the unilateral declaration of a 'Palestinian state.'
The resolution, introduced by Democrat Howard Berman, reaffirms the "strong support" in the lower chamber of the US Congress "for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting in two states, a democratic, Jewish state of Israel and a viable, democratic Palestinian state."
The text also "reaffirms its strong opposition to any attempt to establish or seek recognition of a Palestinian state outside of an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians."
It urges Palestinian leaders to "cease all efforts at circumventing the negotiation process" and calls on foreign governments "not to extend such recognition."
One of the co-sponsors of the House measure was Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, who earlier condemned moves by the South American countries to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that such recognition by the South Americans was "counter-productive" to achieving Middle East peace.
The European Union on Monday stopped short of outright recognition of a Palestinian state despite mounting pressure to break the Middle East impasse, but did reaffirm its readiness to recognize such a state at an "appropriate" time.
Mounting pressure from whom? And for those of you in Israel, keep in mind that this is the lame duck Congress and that the new one in January may be even more favorably disposed to Israel.
Here's some encouraging news from the US House of Representatives. A bipartisan group of 198 representatives has signed a letter raising concerns about the $60 billion arms package to the Saudis.
In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, 198 representatives voiced a range of complaints about Saudi policies, and said they “would like to know how these sales will affect Israel’s qualitative military edge.”
House members aren’t likely to block the deal, officials said, but would like conditions applied to the sales to try to prevent the weaponry from potentially being used against Israel, US or allied forces.
Lawmakers noted, for example, that the administration could require modifications in aircraft guidance systems and other electronics to make it harder for the weapons to be used against Israeli targets. The US also could require that the aircraft be based in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, to provide Israel time to prepare for defense in the event of an attack, lawmakers said.
The letter was primarily the work of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., and ranking minority committee member US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. [pictured with tefillin. CiJ], who signed the letter, said he was optimistic that the administration will be able to meet the lawmakers’ requests because of the leverage provided by the deal.
“This giant weapons sale is obviously critical to Saudi national security,” he said.
...
The group of lawmakers raising questions included both liberal and conservative members, and the letter faulted several Saudi policies. They complained that Riyadh has not moved to normalize relations with Israel, has lagged on financial support to the Palestinian Authority and has not done enough to try to pressure Iran to curtail its nuclear weapons program.
It would be nice if support for Israel went back to being bipartisan. Unfortunately, the White House still has to get with the program.
On Sunday, I reported that the US Congress has lifted a hold that was placed on military assistance for the Lebanese Armed Forces. As a result of the hold being lifted on Friday afternoon, Lebanon received $100 million in military assistance immediately on Friday. Perhaps, before that money was handed out, someone should have checked what other military assistance Lebanon is getting, and whether the new US aid will have any effect on the balance of power in the region, particularly if that assistance happens to fall into the hands of Hezbullah. You see, unlike the days of the Cold War, when you got your weapons from either the United States or the Soviet Union, but not from both, now countries have multiple sources of supply.
For his part, Hariri, who started Monday a two-day official visit to Moscow, announced a Russian military donation to the Lebanese army.
The donation includes six Mi-24 combat helicopters, 31 T-72 tanks, 36 130-mm caliber cannons and ammunitions for medium machineguns and 130-mm field guns.
"We must put an end to Israeli continuous intransigence, because the region does not tolerate all this extremism that exists in it. Israel must accept the principles of the Madrid Conference and the Arab Peace Initiative announced by (Saudi) King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz from Beirut," Hariri said during the meeting with Putin.
Hariri noted that Russia has been playing a major role concerning the Palestinian cause.
"We hope that your role in this process will become stronger, because the region needs Russia's role," he told Putin.
I mentioned in an earlier post that Representatives Howard Berman (D-Cal) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) lifted their holds on the provision of military aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces on Friday.
Congressman Howard L. Berman, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today released the following statement on lifting a hold on military assistance to Lebanon:
"On August 2, I placed a hold on a $100 million spending plan for military assistance for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) out of concern that this plan did not reflect changing political realities in Lebanon. The following day, August 3, a shooting initiated by the LAF on its southern border, resulting in the needless death of an Israeli soldier, further complicated the situation; Israeli restraint prevented that situation from getting out of hand.
"In response to our hold, the Administration initiated a thorough, inter-agency review of its military assistance program for Lebanon. I have been fully briefed, in a classified setting, on the results of that review. As a result, I am convinced that implementation of the spending plan will now have greater focus, and I am re-assured as to the nature and purposes of the proposed package. I also understand that the LAF has taken important steps to prevent recurrence of dangerous and provocative actions like that which occurred August 3. I have also been given reason for confidence that assistance to the LAF has not fallen into the hands of Hezbollah and that every possible measure is being taken by Lebanese and American authorities to prevent that from happening. As a result of these assurances, I am lifting the hold on the $100 million spending plan for the LAF.
"I continue to be concerned about developments in Lebanon, and I will continue my ongoing discussions with State regarding the optimal contours of future military assistance for Lebanon. Some of the key elements of the current package are not yet ready for actual delivery to the LAF and will be further notified to Congress prior to actual delivery. We will, of course, further assess the situation at that time."
The Jerusalem Post has a statement from Lowey's staff:
“The administration gave detailed briefings and provided thorough, written responses to Congresswoman Lowey’s questions and concerns about the assistance and safeguards in place to prevent it from falling into terrorists’ hands,” a Democratic congressional staffer said of Lowey’s decision to lift the hold on Friday.
“Improving Lebanon’s ability to defend its borders, stop arms trafficking, build institutions and fight terrorist elements is imperative to the security and stability of the region.”
And the Wall Street Journal adds this statement from the State Department.
"We reviewed our assistance to Lebanon and concluded that it is vital, given ongoing challenges to the Lebanese state from Hezbollah and others," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday.
Remember what happened to all the weapons that the US supplied to Fatah when Hamas took over in 2007? Look for the same thing to happen in Lebanon between the LAF and Hezbullah. Trust me on this.
I have mentioned before Mitchell Bard's conclusion that Israel no longer bothers to oppose American arms sales to Saudi Arabia, because it's not a winnable battle. In light of that, what appears to be growing Congressional opposition to the proposed $60 billion arms sale to 'our friends the Saudis' is a refreshing surprise.
California Democrat Howard Berman and Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are seeking support from other members of the U.S. House of Representatives for a letter outlining concerns and questions to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The letter stops short of opposing the sale, which would be the largest in U.S. history if all purchases are made. The package includes Boeing Co. F-15 fighter jets, attack helicopters and satellite-guided bombs. It also contains helicopters made by United Technologies Corp. and advanced radar from Raytheon Co.
The lawmakers raise “the potential repercussions for our friends and for our own forces in the region in the event of political change in Saudi Arabia,” according to the draft letter obtained by Bloomberg News yesterday. Ros-Lehtinen is expected to replace Berman as committee chairman in January, when Republicans take control of the House.
“We have serious concerns about the nature of Saudi involvement in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, particularly since the Saudis have failed to take steps toward normalization of relations with Israel or to augment their financial support to the Palestinian Authority,” according to the letter.
...
On Iran, Ros-Lehtinen and Berman ask what Saudi Arabia has done beyond expressing anxiety at Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The lawmakers cite potential Saudi “leverage in the international oil market to diminish Iran’s oil revenue” and actions to stem financing for terrorism or reduce the spread of nuclear-weapons technology.
...
The letter questions how thoroughly the State Department and the Pentagon have considered the effect of the sale on U.S. policies in the region, including the goal of ensuring that Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge” over its neighbors.
The two lawmakers cite a report by the Government Accountability Office, which concluded that the Departments of State and Defense “did not consistently document how arms transfers to gulf countries advanced U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.”
Defense Department officials discussed the proposed sale with Israeli officials as the package was being developed, according to both sides. Jonathan Peled, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, has said that while his country isn’t “thrilled” by the proposal, it hasn’t requested such actions as congressional hearings or assurances.
Congress has until November 20 to object to the sale. I can think of some more reasons why Congress should object. Please send this post to your Representative or Senator.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
