Share
Email
Print12 Jewish Dems back P.A. funding
Twelve Jewish Democrats are among 135 U.S. Congress members urging increased assistance to the Palestinians.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the Jewish chairman of the House of Representatives’ Middle East subcommittee, and Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.), an Arab American, initiated a letter sent Monday to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that argued for more funding.
The letter said the increased aid would be critical to bolstering Palestinian moderates now that Rice is convening renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“We need robust diplomacy,” Boustany told JTA after sending the letter. “The U.S. needs to take a lead in this.”
The vast majority of signatories were Democrats, and included top Jewish members such as Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). Fewer than 20 Republicans signed.
The Jewish groups that led the lobbying effort for the letter were dovish: the Reform movement, Americans for Peace Now, the Israel Policy Forum and Brit Tzedek v’Shalom.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee also backed the letter, albeit without proactive lobbying. That stance was controversial and earned criticism from top AIPAC donors who back right-wing causes in Israel.
This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now.
Discussions About this Article Elsewhere
Comments RSS Feed Reader Comments
There are currently no comments to this article. Leave a comment below.
Leave a Comment
To comment on this article, you must first be registered with JTA.
Not Registered?
There are real advantages to a FREE registration with JTA.org:
- Make your voice heard through comments on articles
- Receive our e-mailed Daily Briefing, an invaluable quick-read
- Help decide what Jewish news matters most with interactive tools
Register Now
Already a JTA member?
- Groups set major Iran push for September
- Opinion: Israel as a Jewish State
- Olympics hero Lezak finally opts for Maccabiah
- UJC taps Silverman as new executive
- Barak sees progress in Mitchell meeting
- So far, no new settlement building approved by Netanyahu gov’t
- Iranian blogger detained
- Field hockey family affair
- The Chosen: Jewish members in the 111th U.S. Congress
- Jackson kids’ Jewish mother could regain custody
- Guard shot at Holocaust museum dies
- Biden: Israel can decide for itself on Iran
- Canadian politician sues Jewish groups
- In endorsing two states, Netanyahu adopts popular Jewish position
- Some Jewish settlers turning against Israel
- Mass converts pose dilemma for Latin American Jews
Trackback URL: http://jta.org/trackback/105416/
No trackbacks have been created for this article, be the first to create one.