"Cotton’s bill aimed at settlements policy"

This week, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced S. 2474, purportedly in order to ensure “fair” treatment by the United States of Israel and Israeli products. In truth, this bill has nothing to do with Israel or products made in Israel. It is about one thing only: reversing nearly five decades of unbroken U.S. policy opposing settlements built by Israel in territories it occupied in the 1967 war.  

Cotton’s bill is just the latest salvo in a broader campaign, taking place both in Washington and in state capitals, to exploit concerns about BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel), in order to legitimize settlements.

1. Bills, Resolutions, and Letters
2. Settlements=Israel, new twist:  Legislating Labeling of West Bank Goods
3. APN on the Cotton Bill
4. Hearings
5. On the Record

Lara Friedman: Senator Cotton's "Made in Israel" bill: latest salvo in campaign to change US settlements policy (The Hill, 2/4/2016)

Lara Friedman: The Obama Administration is right to reject the "settlements=Israel" conflation (LobeLog, 2/1/2016)

Lara Friedman quoted in story on bill that would allow West Bank and Gaza products to be labeled "Made in Israel" (Huffington Post, 2/1/2016)

As Peace Now ramps up lobbying against anti-NGO bill, Knesset postpones vote (Haaretz, 2/1/2016)

Peace Now among Israeli groups and artists defiantly protesting blacklisting of progressives (JewSchool, 2/5/2016)

Peace Now protests new Knesset statue honoring settlements removed from Gaza Strip in 2005 (JTA, 2/2/2016)

Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer protests Knesset monument commemorating Gaza disengagement (Haaretz, 2/1/2016)

Knesset dedicates Gaza disengagement memorial despite Peace Now's protest (Jerusalem Post, 2/1/2016)

Peace Now's request not to place Gaza disengagement monument in the Knesset rejected by Knesset attorney general (Arutz 7, 2/1/2016)

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions. 

This week, Alpher discusses Labor party leader Isaac “Bougie” Herzog's partial measure for the Palestinian issue and whether it is any more feasible than the two-state solution; is it better than nothing; if a possible Hamas initiative to start another Gaza war is a possibility; and where he envisages regional conflict escalation and how relevant this is for Israel and the US.

Update: this action, now closed, ran in February 2016. 

There are bills pending in both the House and Senate that seek to reverse almost 5 decades of U.S. policy with respect to Israeli settlements.

Contact your House member tell her/him: pro-settlements is NOT pro-Israel!

All three of these bills – H. Res. 567, S. Res. 346, and S. 2474 – purport to be about countering BDS against Israel. In reality, all three are really about erasing the distinction between Israel and the occupied territories and legislate U.S. protection and support for Israeli settlements.

Your Senators need to hear from you today! Tell them: Conflating Israel with settlements is reckless and dangerous, for both the U.S. and Israel.

These bills did not emerge from a vacuum. They are part of a broader effort – supported by AIPAC and other groups – to exploit legitimate concerns about growing grassroots support for the BDS movement in order to change U.S. policy on settlements.

For more info on H. Res. 567 and S. Res. 346, see here and here.
For more info on S. 2474, see here.