Support for Israel 'can't, and shouldn't' become partisan

• Author: OMRI NAHMIAS
• Published date: 07 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"I cannot allow one of my colleagues to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives and label the Jewish democratic State of Israel an apartheid state. I reject it," he said. "The House of Representatives will overwhelmingly stand with our ally, the State of Israel, in replenishing this defensive system. If you believe in human rights, if you believe in saving lives, Israeli lives and Palestinian lives, I say to my colleague who just besmirched our ally, then you will support this legislation."

"There was a lot leading to that moment," Deutch told The Jerusalem Post in an interview. "There was enormous frustration when the Iron Dome funding was pulled from the bill after a number of us pressed House leadership to not only to ensure that we would vote on that Iron Dome funding, but to announce it before we even had a vote on the Continuing Resolution. This should have been very straightforward."

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"Lots of people ask me about why I was so emotional," he said. "I was in large part responding to the speech that Representative Tlaib gave immediately before me. And what was really so upsetting at the moment was that this vote was for a defensive system that its sole purpose is to save lives. And to stand and argue against supporting that kind of lifesaving [system] and against Israel the way she did, I thought it [called for] a strong response."

The Florida congressman serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism.

On many occasions in the past, Deutch described the progressive flank of his party as a small group and said the vast majority of his colleagues strongly support Israel. Asked whether the events of the past few weeks, when progressives were able to block a resolution for continuing funding, had changed his perspective, he maintained his position.

"Yes, a small number of Democrats, when there are party-line votes, have enormous sway," he said. "That's something we've seen over the past couple weeks in other contexts as well. But ultimately, it was also a number of Democrats who then immediately responded to push a vote forward within days [on a stand-alone bill]."

Had the resolution passed, it would have been without any Republican support, Deutch said.

"Which gets to the bigger issue, which is the fact that support for...