Eritrea subpoenas British diplomat over Tigray statements

LONDON: Several Democratic members of the US Congress have come under fire for visiting Israel on a trip financed by a hardline pro-Israel lobby group.

Among those criticized was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has been accused of using the trip, organized by the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, to provide political support for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, amid mounting pressure over a series of judicial reforms.

Jeffries, who met Netanyahu on the trip, was also accused of downplaying Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, after claiming that the prime minister had made it “clear to us that he does not condone violence, no matter where it takes place.” origine” at the wake. of the recent death of a Palestinian teenager.

After meeting with the prime minister, Jeffries defended the current terms of US military aid to Israel, which currently amounts to about $3.4 billion a year. This has come under scrutiny after Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and several senior US diplomats suggested it was time to reassess the pact to prevent the funds from being used for the oppression of ordinary Palestinians.

“The need to ensure that we maintain Israel’s qualitative military advantage will remain with us regardless of where Israel lands in terms of the judicial reform effort,” Jeffries said.

“The stakes are too high in a very dangerous world for anything other than our continued security cooperation to remain strong.”

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said Jeffries had also made remarks during the trip about the widespread protests against the country’s judicial reforms “which echo emerging Republican talking points on the issue, rather than the growing number of Democrats expressing their worry”.

Hadar Susskind, president of the group Americans for Peace Now, told The Guardian that it was wrong for Democratic members of Congress to collaborate with Aipac, given that he funded pro-Israel Republican candidates against Democrats across the country, including some who have denied legitimacy. of President Joe Biden.

He noted that another Democrat on the trip, Shri Thanedar, had previously suggested that Israel was an “apartheid state,” and that Aipac had subsequently spent $4 million trying to overthrow it last year.

“For Democrats to go on this trip funded and run by an organization that is fundamentally opposed to the policies of its president and his party, and that attacks very, very directly the colleagues of the people on the trip, is absurd.” Susskind said.

Usamah Andrabi, spokesperson for Justice Democrats, told The Guardian: “It is a failure of the Democratic leadership to continue to work in any capacity with Aipac.

“All of the Democratic members who participated in this trip support Aipac’s primary right-wing challenges to his colleagues, the more than 100 Republicans who voted to overturn the election, and the Israeli government’s brutal apartheid regime.”

Jeremy Ben-Ami, chairman of the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group J Street, told The Guardian: “Our concern is that US tax dollars should not fund materiel and weapons that facilitate the deepening of the occupation and permanent disappearance.” of a possible Palestinian state. That’s not in anyone’s security interest.”