A group of Democratic Senators have backed down from a threat to end bipartisan support for Israel if it goes through with a move to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, Jewish Insider reported on Sunday.
Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) are now pushing a revised, watered-down letter to Senate offices after circulating an initial draft which warned that sovereignty would end the bipartisan support.
The original letter, addressed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz, warned the Israeli leaders that “If you move forward with unilateral annexation, we could not support that action and would sadly conclude that Israel no longer values the bipartisan support that Congress has provided it for decades.”
The latest version of the letter, obtained by Jewish Insider, reads, “If you move forward with unilateral annexation, we could not support that action. This is consistent with long-standing American policy opposing unilateral actions by either party to the conflict. Pursuit of a viable, negotiated two state solution is essential to ensuring our shared democratic values and lasting bipartisan support for Israel in Congress.”
The original draft also charged that application of sovereignty would “threaten” the commitment to Israel’s security and the shared values between the two countries. In the new version, “threaten” was changed to “undermine.” The updated draft of the letter also replaced “Palestinian Authority” with “Palestinians.”
In addition, noted Jewish Insider, the original draft stated that “a negotiated agreement would likely erode the strong support among the American people for the unwavering security assistance” from the United States. The new language changes “unwavering security assistance… from the US” to “special relationship… with the US”.
The letter followed the coalition agreement between Netanyahu and Blue and Gantz, which states that the government could apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria this coming July.
A State Department spokesperson said last week that “we are prepared to recognize Israeli actions to extend Israeli sovereignty and the application of Israeli law to areas of the West Bank that the vision foresees as being part of the State of Israel.”
The spokesperson also added that the US would ask Israel’s new unity government to negotiate with Palestinian Arabs.
Those comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated that application of sovereignty was ultimately "an Israeli decision."
Last week, Jewish Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) indicated to Jewish Insiderthat he would not sign the original letter, saying, “I don’t think it is helpful for us to sow dissension in the United States as it relates to the support for Israel.”