Anti-Zionism Equals Anti-Semitism… (U.S. Congress Resolution)

-        And finally on 28-11-2023 ..... criticizing Israel became an international crime, punishable under American law..after Republican member Representative Mike Lawler...from New York, submitted an unjust resolution, on Tuesday 28-11-2023, which won bipartisan support, as the House with members of both parties in the number 412, approved a resolution: equating Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism...with only two opposing members, one of them Ms. Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic member of Congress of Palestinian origin. The resolution was under the title affirming "the right of Israel to exist"!

-        The resolution also acknowledges the historical facts regarding the Holocaust, and the persecution of the Jews..with a total omission as usual, of any mention of the Palestinians and their historical claims..!

-        The resolution also states that denying Israel's right to exist is a form of Anti-Semitism..!

-        The American House of Representatives last Tuesday, approving a resolution equating Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism, is a step that will further restrict freedom of expression.! according to the British Middle East Monitor newspaper, and it contains controversial claims that can be used to suppress criticisms directed at Israel, including its practice of apartheid..( !

-        This was not new to American policy..from ancient times...and on 11-9-1922, the United States agreed to the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine..and a resolution was also issued by the American Congress unanimously on 19-12-1945, affirming that the United States would use its good offices with the British Mandate authorities to open the doors of Palestine to Jewish immigration..in preparation for establishing a national home for the Jews there..noting that the United States was among the first countries to recognize the establishment of Israel by a UN decision in 1948 (after several minutes of its declaration and other decisions. (Palestinian Studies Foundation).

-        And there remain eleven laws since 1985, regarding the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinians, not to mention the resolution issued last Tuesday referenced above..I review some of them:

-        The PLO began to be classified as terrorist since 1975...and the first law that was enacted was on August 8, 1985, and it was the law (Codifying the Policy of Prohibiting Negotiations with the PLO), which still exists and in a ridiculous form. "The codification prohibits American government officials from negotiating with any representative or official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), unless he accepts Israel's right to exist, United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338, and denounces the use of violence". And although the provisions of this law were suspended when the organization accepted the "Quadruple Principles", it should have been repealed, not merely suspended. So what is the logic behind suspending the law, instead of repealing it, at a time when the PLO agreed to all the conditions of the legislation and the resolution?

-        Worse than that law is the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987, which was enacted on 27 January 1987, which stigmatized the PLO as terrorist, and banned all its activities in the United States,

-        As was supposed to happen after the signing of the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993, the United States enacted the "Facilitation of Peace in the Middle East Act" on 28 October 1993, by which the American President was granted the authority to suspend the Anti-Terrorism Act that bans the operations of the PLO in the United States, thereby allowing the opening of a PLO office in Washington.. And although the law had an expiration character in 1997, on 26-11-1997 this law was quickly replaced by the bill "National Security Waiver Document - Operations of the Palestine Liberation Organization", dated 26-11-1997 but, unfortunately, the law expired in 2011.!

-        Later, the "Designation of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)" law was enacted on 5 January 1999. This was the Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes the Secretary of State to designate an organization as a foreign terrorist organization. The U.S. Department of State used this law to designate many factions of the PLO, and other groups, and Hamas as foreign terrorist organizations.!

-        This law became very important when Hamas won the legislative council elections in 2006. Which led to the suspension of support for the Palestinian Authority, and complicated the process of forming a Palestinian government that would include Hamas.

-        With the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the "Ineligibility for Visa and Waiver of Inadmissibility" law was adopted on 22 January 2002. Immigration and Nationality law, and this made "any official or representative or spokesperson of the PLO ineligible to obtain a visa. This law is still in effect..

-        And with Hamas's victory in the legislative council elections, the Palestinians were slapped on 12 December 2006 by the enactment and passage of another anti-Palestinian law, the "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006". This law provides a set of conditions and restrictions on any assistance provided to the Palestinians. The law "prohibits assistance to any unit in the Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas, or any institution controlled by Hamas, unless it accepts the Quadruple Principles"!

-        When Palestine joined UNESCO as a member state, the United States enacted the "United Nations Membership Waiver Document", which was issued on 23 December 2011. This law restricts the work of the Palestinians to obtain full membership in the United Nations and/or join specialized agencies, and restricts the operations of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)!

-        After that, on 4 January 2014, when there were growing concerns that Palestinian leaders might accede to the Rome Statute or the International Criminal Court (ICC) and begin investigations of Israeli officials for war crimes, again, the U.S. Congress stepped in and issued the "Restrictions on the International Criminal Court Document". This document places additional restrictions on the Palestinians from initiating or supporting a judicially authorized investigation by the International Criminal Court into alleged Israeli crimes against Palestinians.!

-        When the negotiations launched in July 2013 by Secretary of State John Kerry failed, once again Congress found a reason to punish the Palestinians. But this time by enacting the "Reduce Prisoner Payments – the Graham Amendment" on 16 December 2014. This law "requires a dollar-for-dollar reduction in economic assistance by the amount the Palestinian Authority and the PLO and any successor or subordinate organization expend on payments "for terrorist acts" committed by individuals who were imprisoned!"

-        The United States decided, after careful review, that the General Mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) must close its doors. It added: "This decision also aligns with Administration and Congressional concerns about Palestinian attempts to pursue investigations of Israel by the International Criminal Court."

-        On 23-10-1995... the U.S. Congress adopted legislation numbered 1322, the "Jerusalem Embassy Act"... which provides for considering Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem..no later than 31-5-1999..and since that date, successive American presidents worked to delay the certification of this step every 6 months, a tradition that President Trump ended ..

-        On 14-5-2018... the United States actually moved its embassy to Jerusalem in the presence of a high-level American delegation

-        And on 25 August 2018 the White House issued a statement saying: Washington reallocated more than $200 million that had been designated as economic assistance for the West Bank and Gaza, to projects elsewhere around the world,

-        On 1 September 2018 the U.S. Department of State announced in a statement the suspension of all its financial support to all institutions of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA),

-        And on 7 September 2018 the U.S. Department of State announced it was withholding $25 million that had been planned as assistance to Palestinian hospitals in Jerusalem, numbering 6 hospitals!

-        On 4 March 2019, the U.S. consulate was merged with the embassy in Jerusalem: after moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, becoming a single diplomatic mission,

- These American decisions come in line with a set of racist Israeli laws and practices that deny Palestinian national and historical rights, among which were "قانون أساس القدس عاصمة إسرائيل 1980" and "قانون القدس الموحدة 2018;" up to what is called the "قانون القومية الإسرائيلي2018" These decisions cause the destruction of the peace process, the erasure of its references based on international law and international legitimacy and their resolutions, and an attempt to impose a unilateral solution at the expense of Palestinian national rights, and a blatant bias in favor of Israel (the occupying state).

- On 28 January 2020, President Donald Trump announced the "Deal of the Century" in a press conference held at the White House, and the deal included: Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the settlements and the Jordan Valley, recognition by the Palestinians that Israel is a Jewish state, that Palestinian refugees will not have the right of return, and the provision of $50 billion for investment and the advancement of the Palestinian economy, etc..!

- President Joe Biden announced his desire to restore relations with the Palestinian Authority, to reopen the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation in Washington, to resume emergency assistance to the Palestinians, and to renew United States efforts to promote peace between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which are scattered among 11 laws passed by the U.S. Congress since 1985..but nothing of all these promises and illusory wishes was achieved..! Rather, the White House's insolence and denial of any of the rights of the Palestinian people increased, when the White House supported Israel militarily, financially and diplomatically, so that it could, in its description, "defend itself," following the events of 7 October this year, during which the genocidal war continues to be carried out by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip....!

- On 26-4-2023 (according to Al-Quds Al-Arabi) it was noted in a U.S. Congress resolution regarding Israel that the option of a "two-state solution" was completely deleted from the paragraphs related to peace efforts and only a reference to the necessity of supporting normalization processes between Israel and Arab countries was made, as the sole regional option!

- The genocidal war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip currently raging since 7 October 2023 is the best evidence that the White House does not see the Palestinians..but only Israel, and supporting Israel, and not stopping the firing,..and standing against any voice to stop the firing in international forums—even the Secretary-General of the United Nations has been terrorized and intimidated, after the Israeli delegate demanded his resignation in a Security Council session, on the grounds that he had said at the time that Hamas's action on 7 October "did not occur in a vacuum..!." So he soon found himself calling for humanitarian truces even in a faint voice!!

- The Palestinian people...will obtain their legitimate rights in driving out the occupation...no matter the sacrifices, and no matter how unjust and unfair the constraints of American laws and legislations are..they are a brave and believing people, and they are not alone in this world...for the peoples of the Arab and Islamic worlds..and the free people in this world..support them..and endorse them with full force....!