House Dems Align With Bush On Gaza

House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that leading House Democrats are currently drafting a non-binding congressional resolution to support Israel's Gaza incursion. The resolution, being drafted by the office of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), will offer tacit support for Israel and look into conditions for peace without explicitly demanding a ceasefire.

The report quotes Hoyer:

"Certainly it would not demand a cease-fire," Hoyer said. "It would speak to the conditions that would justify a cease-fire. A cease-fire is not a just cease-fire when it's just Israel" holding fire.

These House Democrats' stance is notably aligned with the Bush administration's current position towards the conflict. The "one-sided ceasefire" point has become a mantra for Bush and Secretary of State Rice since Israel's air strikes began on December 27th. And, as Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu reports here, it has also become the position of the European Union, under the nascent leadership of the Czech Republic.

As Gedalyahu reports:

"At the moment, from the perspective of the last days, we understand this step as a defensive, not offensive, action," said Czech EU presidency spokesman Jiri Potuznik.

...

While the U.S. is using diplomatic efforts to halt violence and is concerned with the economic situation of Gaza residents, President Bush stated, "Another one-way ceasefire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice -- there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end."

Gedalyahu also points out that this position conflicts with that of the EU's former leadership, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as with much of the Arab world. It is not yet clear if there will be any strong congressional opposition to the Democratic resolution. Though President-elect Barack Obama has kept himself at arm's-length from the conflict thus far, he has just spoken out against civilian casualties. However, he is also often quoted from his visit to the assailed Israeli city Sderot as sharing the House Dems position. Passage of the House resolution would be the first formal Congressional response to the conflict.

Comments

[JoeDoorman]

No politician would stick their neck out for Hamas, not even a little.
Better to stick with backing Israel, much safer.
Hamas has no media outlets in the US.

I just heard Wolf Blitzer report that Al Qaeda is blaming Obama for the deaths in Gaza.
Here we go again.

[rosal]

It almost makes me turn Green Party. The poor and powerless are always voiceless. The wealthy and influential can buy a complete government with no problem. And we are as powerless trying to see justice done in this world. Really sad!

[SailFree]

Given the INCESSANT, LOUD, and often HYSTERICAL bleating about the poor and powerless, one can HARDLY claim that they have no voice! That's just contra-reality.

[LeeCalif]

We need third parties in this country.

The two we have are interchangeable on far too many issues.

Anyway, when you think abt it, only two parties for a country of nearly 300 million people is woeful.

European and African countries have far more choice than we do.

That's why our 2 party system kept Nader out of the debates. Americans expectations would cease to
be lowered.

[hamchunk]

As a side note, the rockets are nicely decorated; just because you are being besieged doesn't mean you have to live colorless and without flair (I wonder if I can get HGTV to do an Extreme Bombed Village Makeover Edition?).

[MikeDu]

Instead of bombing the Gaza ghettos into dust why not instead tear down the concrete walls, abandon your racist notion of a 'unitary ethnic state', give all inhabitants of Israel/palestine a free vote, and apologize for the big land grab that happened after WWII? Oh, yeh. You can't do that because "this land is ours - God gave us this land" ...a couple millenea ago. Maybe I'll take a trip to Normandy France and kick the locals out of their chateau - because that's where MY people came from 2,000 years ago too.

[MoeB]

Yes, no one is addressing the REAL problem here...REL­IGION.

It was religious views that led to Israel being created where it was. And all these "christian" politicians in Washington are behind Israel "unconditionally" because of their religious beliefs. It's sad. There is little sympathy for the innocent victims in Gaza being bombed out of existence on an ever increasing basis. And now we are going to SUPPORT this?

[westreal]

Ths is how I sreal controls America. Not one politician has the balls to condemn them. What are they afraid of? But thanks to the internet millions of Americans are waking up to what's going on.

[LeeCalif]

for sure. I just wish the censors here would lighten up as well.

[CaptainHowdy]

I hope you're right. Still seems that a lot of people are being brainwashed by the Z i o n i s t controlled media.

[SailFree]

Seriously, I love this site! I laugh my head off...

[43P04T34]

The Democrats have ALWAYS been on Bush's side.

Ralph Nader mentioned that a time or two.

Hey, everybody; save your shock & outrage. I don't want to hear about it now. You had your chance. Again. And you blew it. Again.

[rosal]

I almost tend to agree with you, but then, there is Kucinich.

[PKape]

Obama's silence and low profile approach on this crisis concern me. Past policies have gone nowhere, yet we see unwillingness to change anything. Israeli latest disproportional, collective punishment of Gaza and US favoritism policies achieve nothing but recruiting the next generation of Hamas and ensuring continuation of hatred of the US.

[SailFree]

One does not engage in existential warfare with a "proportional" mentality. One enters to WIN!

[MaximMaximus]

Why would Israel engage in an existential warfare with Palestinians in Gaza who live in a ghetto similar to that of the Jewish people in Poland during WWII, where water, electric, gas and all supplies are controlled by Israel? Nor do they have a standing regular army with state of the art weaponry as Israel does. All they do is to launch home made highly inaccurate rockets (17 Israelis were killed by them while the death toll on the Palestinian Gaza side is 1700 in the last 8 years). While I am completely against Hamas and a supporter of Israel, I cannot relate to what they have been doing in recent times. They've become self destructive under right wing policies.

[PKape]

If "WIN" is what Israel and US hope to achieve, then they have not achieve anything because this cycle of violence has been around longer than you have lived (probably).

[MajorKong]

Who needs a foreign policy when you've got a slogan?

[WorkingClass]

I served under president Johnson. There is something about this "winning" I just don't understand. Please help me. What exactly is it that we would have won if we had won in Viet Nam?

[SailFree]

Bret Stephens has a quite decent piece on the Gaza situation today in WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123120028301755589.html

Right up to the last paragraph, where he proposes a retaliation scenario. Retaliatino doesn't work with terrorists. Killing them works much better.

[MaximMaximus]

Obviously you're clueless. Unfortunately, Hamas has become a social and political movement. It is not a stand-alone terror organization in a traditional sense. You can never kill enough to stop it. The only solution to the problem at hand is to render them irrelevant. That means one has to pull the rug from underneath them, which in turn means making peace and finding a way to coexist while protecting Israels future (and doing the same for Palistinians). You seriously need a history lesson!

[jkoyas]

"Certainly it would not demand a cease-fire," Hoyer said. "It would speak to the conditions that would justify a cease-fire. A cease-fire is not a just cease-fire when it's just Israel" holding fire. And a war is not a war when only one side is armed to the teeth - its called Genocide. As of today i am no longer associated with the democratic or republican party of AIPAC. VOTE THIRD PARTY!!!!!!!!

[BushDoctoring]

Shame on you Tony Blair. Collecting medals from US and yet you claim to be EU special envoy to Middle East. Where the f are you?

[littleBrit]

Well, the week before Christmas, accompanied by four security guards, he spent an hour shopping at the Armani store in Knightsbridge when the store was closed to the public. After all, when you receive an annual retainer of $2m from JP Morgan Chase, you've got money to burn. He will be in Santa Barbara in April performing at the Arlington Theatre. Tickets are expensive but he thinks he's worth it. Is it next week he drops into the White House to collect the Congressional Medal of Honor for services rendered to Iraq? And, yes, he is in Jerusalem right now but no one pays the slightest attention to anything he says anymore - Bliar!

[ColinGallagher]

Well I'm glad I voted for Cindy Sheehan rather than Nancy Pelosi in the San Francisco general election last November, even if it had been just a protest vote. The House Democrats are out of touch with the base of their own party, as well as out of touch with most independent voters on this issue. The more pictures the American public sees of the women and children in the Gaza Strip being slaughtered by the Israelis, the less general support there will be for continuing aid to the Israeli government. Rather than backing Israel unilaterally, the new Administration should be talking to Hamas as well as the Palestinian Authority about how to move the peace process forward. Maybe we can stop giving Israel over $2 billion each year and use that money for the economic stimulus package here?

[SailFree]

Though some Democrats are rational, clearly others are not.

[woodcut]

16 % of us in CA voted for Cindy Sheehan.

[LeeCalif]

GOOD !!

www.CindySheehansSoapBox.com

[Martymar74]

Bring back Jerry Brown for Senator in 2010.

[ErnestineBass]

G O D D A M N W A R M O N G E R I N G D I N O S .

[SailFree]

Gotterdammerung.

[SailFree]

So, Democrats are NOT universally delusional! What a revelation­...

[PoliticalAmazon]

Once again, I am disgusted by the Dems in Congress. Unfortunately, this time it's clear that they are in support of Israel because Obama is in support of Israel.

There is no reason for us to be handing out money and weapons to Israel. We are not profiting from it. Indeed, it is making it even more less likely that we will ever be able to form a stable alliance with a M-E country.

[lovered]

But I though Obama was going to bring eternal peace and harmony?

[hamchunk]

If by "eternal peace and harmony" you mean probably make things so FUBAR it will be unworkable, then, yes, eternal peace and harmony are on the way!

[lbsaltzman]

The pro-Israel lobby controls this countries foreign policy. Politicians will mouth every Israeli lie even if they don't believe them. This lobby is not the least concerned about America's interests, they only care about Israel's interests.

[hamchunk]

And for the life of me I cannot figure out why the public does not recognize this outrage perpetuated against our Nation.

[TheBaffler]

The Dems have been Isr@el's lackeys since before anyone ever heard of Obama.

[SailFree]

Other than supporting decent, democratic, freedom-loving people who are opposed to terrorism, there's no reason to support Israel. Other than opposing the wolves to protect the lambs, there's no reason to support the sheep. But that's enough reason.

[hamchunk]

PoliticalAmazon-
As long as AIPAC can keep the American electorate fed with lies about Israel being our closest ally and being a Middle East democracy, the government's support for Israel will continue. Our relationship with this country is so one-sided, so unbalanced, it befuddles the mind on why our unwaivering support still continues without an uprising of popular sentiment demanding answers concerning our involvement.