Rep. Zeldin Calls for House to Take Up < > Anti-
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Anti-BDS Legislation, 'Forcefully Condemn' Anti-Semitism
Republicans mind you not democrats.
Rep. Lee Zeldin and several of his House Republican colleagues are hoping to force a vote on a bill meant to oppose the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Republicans on Wednesday filed a discharge petition on H.R. 336, the Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019.
If the petition gets a majority of House votes – 218 – H.R. 336 will go back to the House floor. The legislation passed the Senate on a widely bipartisan vote in February.
Zeldin, R-N.Y., has been outspoken about what he sees as a rise of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred infiltrating U.S. politics, college campuses and the halls of Congress.
“We need to send a strong statement as a body that we stand against all this anti-Semitism, all of the anti-Israel hate,” Zeldin said on “America’s Newsroom” Thursday. “Israel is our greatest ally in the Middle East. And it’s a relationship we should be strengthening, not weakening.”
He said that Congress must do more than merely make a statement, they must pass legislation “with teeth.”
H.R. 336 would authorize security assistance to Israel for 10 years and allow state and local governments to adopt laws to divest public funds from entities that boycott Israel, according to a press release from Zeldin’s office.
“We should be uniting Congress in the effort to strengthen our relationship with our greatest ally, we should be uniting Congress to stand unequivocally, forcefully in condemning anti-Semitism,” Zeldin said.