US Democrat delegation criticized for lobby group-sponsored Israel trip
House Minority Leader Jeffries accused of lending support to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been heavily backing Republican candidates in the past
Updated 11 August 2023
Arab News
LONDON: Several Democrat members of the US Congress have been criticized for visiting Israel on a trip funded by a hard-line pro-Israel lobby group.
Among those criticized were House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has been accused of using the trip, put on by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, to lend political support to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, amid mounting pressure over a series of judicial reforms.
Jeffries, who met with Netanyahu on the trip, was also accused of playing down Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, after claiming the prime minister had made “clear to us that he doesn’t condone violence, no matter where it originates” in the wake of the recent death of a Palestinian teenager.
After meeting the prime minister, Jeffries defended the current terms for US military aid to Israel, which currently stands at about $3.4 billion per year. This has come under scrutiny after Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and a number of senior US diplomats suggested it was time to re-evaluate the pact to prevent funds being used in the oppression of ordinary Palestinians.
“The need to ensure we maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge will still be 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 ironclad.”
Israeli newspaper Haaretz said Jeffries had also made statements during the trip about widespread protests against the country’s judicial reforms “that echo the emerging Republican talking points on the matter, rather than the growing number of Democrats voicing concern.”
Hadar Susskind, president of the group Americans for Peace Now, told The Guardian it was wrong for the Democratic members of Congress to collaborate with Aipac, given that it funded pro-Israel Republican candidates against Democrats across the country, including some that have denied the legitimacy of President Joe Biden.
He noted that another Democrat on the trip, Shri Thanedar, had previously suggested Israel was an “apartheid state,” and that Aipac had subsequently spent $4 million trying to unseat him last year.
“For Democrats to be going on this trip funded and led around by an organization that is fundamentally opposed to the policies of their president and their party — and which attacks the colleagues of the people on the trip very, very directly — is absurd,” Susskind said.
Usamah Andrabi, spokesperson for Justice Democrats, told The Guardian: “It is a failure of Democratic leadership to continue working in any capacity with Aipac.
“Every Democratic member who went on this trip is endorsing Aipac’s rightwing primary challenges to their colleagues, the over 100 Republicans who voted to overturn the election, and the Israeli government’s brutal apartheid regime.”
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group J Street, told The Guardian: “Our concern is that US tax dollars shouldn’t be funding material and arms that facilitate the deepening of occupation and the permanent demise of a possible Palestinian state. That’s not in anyone’s security interest.”
Israel is risking global security, warns Somali Information Minister
Tel Aviv’s actions boost terror groups, Daud Aweis Jama tells Arab News in exclusive interview
He accuses Tel Aviv of wanting to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to region
Updated 6 min 21 sec ago
Lama Alhamawi
RIYADH: Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and its presence in the region risks inflaming the situation there, allowing terrorist groups to undermine regional security and stability, according to Somali Information, Culture and Tourism Minister Daud Aweis Jama.
In a special interview with Arab News, Jama insisted that Israel’s unprecedented Dec. 26 move to recognize Somaliland as a sovereign state represents a major setback for Mogadishu’s fight against terrorist organizations like Al-Shabab and Daesh.
“The presence of Israel will be used by the terrorist groups to expand their operations in the region. (They will) have a pretext to spread their ideologies in the region,” he said.
Somaliland's President Abdirahman Abdullahi Mohamed speaking during a press conference with Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar at the Presidential Palace in Hargeisa. (Somaliland Presidential Office/AFP)
“That is another factor that is also risking global security and regional stability, because we have been in the last stage of overcoming the challenges of the terrorist groups Al-Shabab and ISIS,” he added, using another term for Daesh.
Jama added: “We have been putting all our resources and all our time into making sure that we finalize the final stages of the fight against Al-Shabab. So, if something else interrupts us, that means that we are not going to focus fully on the operations against Al-Shabab. And that means we are giving more opportunities to Al-Shabab or other organizations.”
The consequences of this hit to Somalia’s ability to fight terror will not be restricted to the country’s borders, according to Jama, but will spread across the region and beyond.
“This might invite other, external terrorist groups to the region, because they will take advantage of this crisis and will make sure that they take over all the areas that have been defeated before,” the minister said.
Mogadishu residents wave Somali and Palestinian flags at a rally denouncing Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. (AFP)
“We believe this has come at a time that is going to affect our security as a Somali government, the security of the Horn of Africa, the security of the Gulf of Aden, the security of the Red Sea, the security of the Middle East and global stability. This is a very important location that holds the trade of the world.”
The minister underlined that Israel’s recognition and larger presence in the region are leading to more challenges, “putting more fuel on the ongoing challenges that exist in the region, especially in Somalia.” He added: “And at this time, it is not only limited to Somalia, but it’s going to be a challenge that is going to spread like a fire all over the region and all over the world.”
Jama told Arab News that Israel has other strategic motives for its recognition of Somaliland — including the forced resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza.
A woman walks past stalls selling household items at the Waheen Market in Hargeisa. (AFP)
“According to reliable sources that our intelligence gathered, one of the conditions that Israel put forward (for recognizing Somaliland) was to have a place that they can settle the people from Gaza,” he said.
“We find that it is a violation also of the people of Palestine, because we believe that the people of Palestine have the right to self-determination. The two-state solution that has been the call of the international community has to be adhered to and implemented.”
Israel’s coalition government, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in its history, includes far-right politicians who advocate the annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank and encouraging Palestinians to leave their homeland.
A man holds a flag of Somaliland in front of the Hargeisa War Memorial monument. (AFP)
Somalia’s UN Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman said Security Council members Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and Somalia “unequivocally reject any steps aimed at advancing this objective, including any attempt by Israel to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza to the northwestern region of Somalia.”
Israel last month became the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent nation. In the three-plus decades since its self-declaration of independence in 1991, no state had recognized the northwestern territory as being separate from Somalia.
Mogadishu immediately rejected the Israeli move, alongside countries all over the world.
Soldiers of the Somalia National Army (SNA) secure a village that ws allegedly destroyed by retreating insurgents during a visit by senior officers at Awdheegle. (AFP/File)
Saudi Arabia affirmed its rejection of any attempts to impose parallel entities that conflict with the unity of Somalia. It also affirmed its support for the legitimate institutions of the Somali state and its keenness to preserve the stability of Somalia and its people.
A group of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries, alongside the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, also firmly rejected Israel’s announcement. In a joint statement, the ministers warned that the move carries “serious repercussions for peace and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region” and undermines international peace and security.
The 22-member Arab League rejected “any measures arising from this illegitimate recognition aimed at facilitating forced displacement of the Palestinian people or exploiting northern Somali ports to establish military bases,” the organization’s UN Ambassador Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz told the UN Security Council.
Arab News senior reporter Lama Alhamawi conducted an exclusive interview with Somalia’s information minister on Wednesday. (AN photo)
In the most recent development in Israel-Somaliland relations, less than two weeks after Tel Aviv’s recognition, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited the region on Tuesday to publicly formalize diplomatic relations.
“It was a blatant violation of Somalia’s sovereignty that Israel recognized a region within the Somali Federal Republic as an independent state,” Jama underlined. “That was a total violation of international laws. It was a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Somalia.
Mogadishu residents attend a rally denouncing Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. (AFP)
“From the beginning, our path was to follow diplomatic efforts. And we kind of started with a successful UN Security Council meeting that supported Somalia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. (This was) followed by other international actors like the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the African Union and regional bodies like the East African Community and IGAD.
“Also, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union has reiterated the importance of supporting Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
