Trump has nominated Mike Huckabee as US amb to Israel. Time for a quick review of the views/agenda re: Israel/Palestine that this nomination effectively endorses 🧵

This week @axios reported Sen Schumer will pass the hugely controversial Antisemitism Awareness Act during lame duck. Axios presents the controversy as an intra-Democratic issue. This is FALSE. House passage of the AAA in May also catalyzed opposition from GOP & Libertarians. 🧵 Don't believe me? Let's go to the receipts! 🎺

The anti-UNRWA campaign continues in Washington, now using as its hook the (alleged) UNRWA ID doc (allegedly) found with or on the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. And as always with these attacks, facts don't seem to matter.

A 🧵.
1/ Most notably this week: an article in The Hill (the paper aimed at members of Congress & staff) by a longtime UNRWA antagonist & a letter to the Biden Admin from longtime UNRWA antagonist Sen. Cotton (R-AR).

Links:
- thehill.com/opinion/494734…
- cotton.senate.gov/news/press-rel…

2/

A year into Israel’s war to erase/annihilate Palestinian existence in Gaza, read/share the letter to Biden/Harris from 99 US medical professionals documenting what the US is supporting/enabling. Let nobody say they didn’t know.

Excepts in thread
Letter: gazahealthcareletters.org/usa-letter-oct…

Observations on the current the moment - a 🧵

Israel used 10/7 to manufacture US consent/collaboration to undo what Bibi & his Greater Israel/neocon fellow travelers (incl in US) have long viewed as historic errors forced on Israel by weak leaders & intl appeasers of terror.

1/ These are: Gaza disengagement (viewed as capitulation to Hamas), the Oslo Agreement (viewed as capitulation to the PLO), and withdrawal from southern Lebanon (viewed as capitulation to Hezbollah).

2/

A short 🧵 on people who maligned/defamed/slandered @RepRashida now trying to pretend they didn't. CNN's Jake Tapper saying he "misspoke" when he said Tlaib "is suggesting" that Nessel is only prosecuting Palestine protesters "because she's Jewish and the protesters are not. That's quite an accusation."

9/22:
9/23: cnn.com/2024/09/22/pol…

https://x.com/matthew_petti/status/1838386377739653442

Love it or hate it, pressure is ramping up on Schumer/Senate Dems to pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act (massively controversial bill conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism via adoption/enforcement of IHRA definition) after summer recess.

A quick thread w/ receipts. First, from my Round-Up of Mideast stuff on the Hill published a couple of days ago:

fmep.org/resource/fmep-…

Haaretz: Israeli Minister talked to Black Cube about spying in the US on Students for Justice in Palestine

In recent days the Israeli govt has taken MASSIVE steps to consolidate/expand Israeli hegemony over East Jerusalem & the West Bank (in parallel to devastating attacks on Gaza) - gathering key news here in a quick 🧵: 25 Jun 2024 (public 3 July 24): Israel expropriated 12,700 dunams (3138 acres) in West Bank (Jordan Valley) in largest land seizure (theft) since Oslo. Since beginning of 2024, Israel has expropriated 23,700 dunams (5856 acres) of the West Bank.

Details: peacenow.org.il/en/state-land-…

A Jewish woman (who isn’t a big supporter of Israel) was elected president of Mexico. So the Forward investigates her & publishes a piece both impugning her credibility (despite facts reflecting a deeply Jewish story of survival) & feeding into antisemitic attacks on her.

Article:

forward.com/news/622618/me…

Re: cries of “ANTISEMITISM!” over report on pro-Israel billionaires weighing in against protesters for Palestinian rights/lives, here’s a reminder 🧵that not long ago, using political/financial muscle to quash protest was something people involved were fine having in the news. Ynet (Israel) 11/25/23: Shaming and pressuring donors: Israel's strategy against antisemitism on US campuses — ynetnews.com/article/rk5ppr…

For folks tracking this sort of thing, anti-ICC legislation was intro'd in the House 5/7/24 (in anticipation of possible ICC action against Israel) -- currently has 23 cosponsors, all Republicans. congress.gov/bill/118th-con…

Watching Congress & others escalate the targeting of any/all support for Palestinian lives/rights, I want to draw attention to the growing shift/escalation of language, evoking not merely the McCarthy-era trends in play, but also the 1917-1920 Red Scare. 1/ Key elements of McCarthyism & the 1917-1920 Red Scare were accusations that targeted Americans held "un-American" or "anti-American" beliefs & that their activism was inspired/driven/in support of nefarious anti-American foreign interests/actors. 2/

The new comic by @elivalley brilliantly summarizes where things are today - a parable in 6 panels :

Congress nerd weighing in again 😁. This week House Speaker Johnson announced a multi-committee effort targeting “antisemitism” (focused on criticism/protest of Israel). This thread explores bills (not incl resolutions) already intro’d that might figure into this initiative.

1/ First off, here’s Johnson’s press release:



2/mikejohnson.house.gov/news/documents…

ICYMI, the ACLU is weighing in opposing the House bill (to be voted in imminently) to legislate the IHRA definition of antisemitism (the Antisemitism Awareness Act - HR 6090). This is consistent with the ACLU's position since this effort first started back in 2016.

1/ Per the ACLU's 4/26/24 letter to Congress, legislating this definition "would lead to more censorship on campus, and change the nature of universities, which exist to promote the free flow of information and marketplace of ideas..."

Another heads up! As the House gets set to pass legislation that would codify/endorse the IHRA definition of antisemitism on US campuses, 2 members of Congress who back that bill have helpfully given us a hint at the future they they envision

1/ Reminder: the SOLE PURPOSE of codifying the IHRA definition is to legally enforce the conflation of criticism/protest of Israel/Zionism with antisemitism, so as to delegitimize/punish/quash/chill ideas/criticism/protest that doesn’t align with unconditional support for Israel.
2/

Hi all. Nerdy policy wonk who follows Congress closely weighing in with a thread on legislation (getting no media coverage) moving rapidly through Congress that targets US non-profit orgs, with the immediate & explicit target being orgs involved in Palestine protesting.

1/ I'm talking here about a bipartisan legislation the House passed last week (382-11) & that was intro'd last week in the Senate -- HR 6408 & S. 1436.

2/


congress.gov/bill/118th-con…
congress.gov/bill/118th-con…

I’m getting lots of journalists asking me about this story and this quote:

“The Biden administration made clear to the Palestinians that current U.S. law compels the administration to veto such a resolution or defund the UN, a U.S. official said."

Here are the facts:
1/

https://twitter.com/barakravid/status/1780945359021252775

Fact 2: There is no US law compelling the Admin to veto such a resolution.

2/

Rosen (D-NV) et al have intro'd new far-reaching legislation on antisemitism...at the center of which is of course the IHRA definition & the conflation of antisemitism w/ criticism of Israel &/or Zionism. A quick breakdown of IHRA-related elements in this bipartisan bill.

1/ (A) It includes an overarching Sense of Congress that the IHRA definition "should be utilized by Federal, State, and 20 local agencies" -- in direct contradiction to Biden Admin's non-centering/endorsing of the IHRA definition of antisemitism as part of its antisemitism strategy

Full article: Antisemitism and Zionism: The Internal Operations of the IHRA Definition - indispensable, timely research/analysis from Neve Gordon tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10… “The analysis reveals that the IHRA definition of antisemitism serves as a counterinsurgency tool aimed at shielding Israel from resistance to its oppressive form of racial governance and, following its recent war on Gaza, from accusations of genocidal violence.”