1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. Members on the Record
3. Hagel on the Record on the Middle East

ICYMI:

APN statement 12/18: APN Rejects Attacks on Sen. Hagel
At the Daily Beast's Open Zion 12/17: Disingenuous Defenses of Netanyahu's Settlement Plans
At the Daily Beast's Open Zion 12/17: Top Ten Issues the ADL Ignored

This week saw ugly and deeply dishonest attacks launched against former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), in the context of his name being floated as the possible nominee for the next Secretary of Defense. APN's position on Hagel and rejecting these attacks is available here.

For the sake of those who are not familiar with Hagel's real record on the issues (and are so far relying on reports that, when examined, prove inaccurate if not duplicitous), below is a compendium of major statements made by Hagel expressing his views on Israel and the Middle East and spanning his time in office.

Hagel on the Senate floor, 7/31/06: MIDDLE EAST--A REGION IN CRISIS

Hagel at the Council on Foreign Relations, 11/15/05: A Conversation with Senator Chuck Hagel on The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy

Hagel at the World Affairs Council speech, 5/20/03: "Next Steps in the Middle East"

Hagel in the Washington Post, 7/19/02: We Shouldn't Make Arafat the Issue

Hagel on the Senate floor, 6/14/02: PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Hagel on the Senate floor, 4/12/2002: THE MIDDLE EAST

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1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. From the Press

This morning, Reps. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Berman (D-CA), Royce (R-CA) and Engel (D-NY) began circulating a letter to be sent to President Obama.  The letter, which is circulating House-wide for cosponsors, calls on President Obama close the PLO office in Washington, to call the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem back to Washington for consultations, and to use "every means at our disposal to ensure that this General Assembly vote does not serve as a precedent for elevating the PLO in other UN bodies or international forums."   The letter notes that this includes "reaffirming our commitment to maintaining and enforcing U.S laws that require withholding U.S. contributions from any international forum that grants membership to the PLO.  The subject line of the email sent around seeking cosigners on the letter reads "Sign bipartisan, AIPAC-supported letter to the President calling for consequences for Palestinian leadership and UN for unilateral statehood scheme."

The full text of the letter is available here.