Jewish Insider – Daily Kickoff: Congress urged to act on anti-Semitism, Israel | Schumer’s new title | Itzhak Perlman performs in Pittsburgh
[…]
Halie Soifer, Executive Director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), tells us… “In blocking legislation that would formalize the historic MOU agreement Senator Paul is standing in the way of something that is in not only Israel’s security interests but also that of the United States because we have shared security interests, and our relationship and the Memorandum of Understanding is mutually beneficial. This is a long-standing effort by Senator Paul to oppose foreign aid against many countries. But this instance is particularly egregious because what he’s doing is not just blocking the vote. He’s blocking something that would otherwise pass by unanimous consent. This is a very strong obstructionist move that could potentially be very damaging to our national security interests.”
Soifer on concerns about Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “The three Democrats, we haven’t actually seen what that will look like in terms of whether it will translate into any sort of legislative reality or have any real implications. We don’t know. And you know, these three women have views on Israel that the Jewish Democratic Council of America has publicly come out against. But we are hopeful that once they arrive in Washington in January and become fully versed in not only U.S. foreign policy but U.S. national security interests, and the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, especially the military relationship with Israel, that their views may change and they may not translate into any sort of specific legislative action.”