Democrats 'Scrambling to Push Out' Pro-Israel Resolution

Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress at 9:29 AM on January 7, 2009.

Just as Israel is indicating it conditionally welcomes an Egyptian-French cease-fire proposal, Democrats in Congress are "scrambling to push out" a "non-binding resolution supporting Israel's goal" in the Gaza military operations:

U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the U.S. House of Representatives majority leader, told JTA he was looking at such a resolution, which is being drafted in the office of Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Certainly it would not demand a cease-fire," Hoyer said. "It would speak to the conditions that would justify a cease-fire. A cease-fire is not a just cease-fire when it's just Israel" holding fire.

Ron Kampeas reports, "In a signal of the issue's sensitivity, the resolution was being drafted 'in-house,' without the usual consultation with outside pro-Israel groups. It also was aimed at co-opting Republicans in a bid to keep them from 'out-hawking' the Democrats on the issue."

Tagged as: war, israel, democrats, palestine, middle east, attacks, gaza

Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report.