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Hakeem Jeffries Announces He Will Not House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has come out against a bid to cut off US military aid to Israel, while calling for a “major reset” of Washington’s relationship with the Jewish state. In a “Dear Colleague” letter to fellow Democrats on Tuesday, Jeffries said he would vote against an amendment led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and co-sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), that would strip roughly $3.3 billion in annual military financing for Israel — while preserving $500 million for missile-defense programs such as Iron Dome — from the fiscal 2027 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. The House could vote on the measure as early as this week. Aligning himself with the ranking Democrats on the Appropriations and Foreign Affairs committees, Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY), as well as the advocacy group J Street, Jeffries called the proposal too sweeping. “As written, it is overly broad in that it prohibits or would limit the use of funds for longstanding initiatives related to humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and US Embassy operations,” he wrote, adding that the “so-called Massie amendment” would restrict US efforts to confront Hamas, Hezbollah “and other terrorist organizations in the region who are sworn enemies of both the United States and Israel.” Citing deep divisions within the party over Israel, Jeffries said leadership would not pressure members to follow his lead. “There are good faith reasons that will result in Members voting in a variety of different ways with respect to the amendment,” he wrote, noting that the caucus was not whipping the vote. At the same time, Jeffries argued that US policy toward the region “must change,” tying his call for a “major reset” to criticism of what he termed the “far-right Netanyahu government.” He wrote that America’s commitment to “Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and homeland for the Jewish people must remain ironclad,” while urging strong US support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Israeli governments have long rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state along Israel’s borders, warning that it would pose an existential security threat and leave major population centers exposed to attack. Jeffries also said Gaza must undergo “complete reconstruction and modernization” and that “Hamas must be disarmed and removed from power.” Jeffries further signaled that the next US-Israel aid agreement should require Israel to cover more of its own defense costs. The current 10-year memorandum of understanding, signed under President Barack Obama in 2016, provides Israel about $3.8 billion annually — $3.3 billion in military financing and $500 million for missile defense — and expires in 2028. “Israel has an advanced economy and is capable of paying for its own sophisticated weapons, as the Prime Minister recently acknowledged,” Jeffries wrote, adding that any future arrangement should mirror US defense agreements with other Western allies and “strictly adhere to our human rights laws and values.” His stance placed him between the two poles of a party increasingly split over Israel. Hours after his letter circulated, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), sent a competing letter urging Democrats to back the Massie amendment, and progressives including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said they would vote to cut the aid. Support for Israel among Democratic voters has fallen sharply during the war in Gaza. An Associated Press-NORC poll conducted in June found that 52 percent of Democrats say Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians, while a Pew Research Center survey found that roughly 80 percent of Democrats hold a negative view of Israel. In April, a majority of Senate Democrats — 40 of the caucus’s 47 members — voted for at least one of two resolutions to block certain arms sales to Israel, though the measures failed. Supporters of continued assistance say it preserves Israel’s qualitative military edge and bolsters a key US partner against Iran-backed groups, while critics want aid conditioned on Israeli policy changes, particularly over the conduct of the war in Gaza. The upcoming vote is expected to underscore the widening gap between the party’s pro-Israel wing and its growing bloc of aid critics. for Amendment to Strip Israel Aid

June 14, 2018 12:54 pm

‘Repulsive Antisemite’ Convicted by UK Judge for Jew-Hating YouTube Videos

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avatar by Ben Cohen

Amateur musician Alison Chabloz performing a song that insults survivors of the Holocaust. Photo: Screenshot.

A British YouTube blogger who has waged a relentless Holocaust denial campaign online narrowly avoided a jail cell on Thursday, after being convicted last month for posting antisemitic content.

Amateur musician Alison Chabloz, 54, was sentenced by a British judge to 20 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, for threatening messages and antisemitic songs that she posted to her YouTube channel.

Chabloz’s channel remains accessible on YouTube, with warnings flagging its content as offensive. It includes speeches by Holocaust deniers and Palestinian solidarity videos, alongside what is billed as the main attraction: a selection of openly antisemitic songs sung to the camera by Chabloz, in performances that bring to mind the more sinister characters created by famous British film director Alfred Hitchcock.

In one ditty, titled “(((Survivors))),” Chabloz mimicked what she apparently believes is a typically Jewish accent while singing lyrics that defame the survivors of the Nazi death camps as liars motivated by financial gain.

Chabloz was convicted of two counts of sending an offensive, indecent or menacing message through a public communications network and a third charge relating to a song on YouTube, the BBC reported.

Sentencing Chabloz, Judge John Zani told her, “It appears to this court that no proper remorse is forthcoming from you.”

Zani continued: “I don’t know whether you want to be a martyr to your cause. Only time will tell. This sentence will test your resolve. If you fail to abide by the terms of the suspended sentence you should expect to go to prison.”

The first legal proceedings against Chabloz were brought privately by the UK’s Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), and were later taken over by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service.

The CAA welcomed the sentencing of Chabloz on Thursday.

“Alison Chabloz is a remorseless and repulsive antisemite who has spent years obsessively inciting others to hate Jews, principally by claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax perpetrated by Jews to defraud the world,” CAA Chairman Gideon Falter said in a statement. “District Judge John Zani refused to make her a martyr, leaving her a pathetic and insignificant figure who now has to learn to muzzle her incitement or face immediate imprisonment.”

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