Heard on the Hill

10/16/2008

Full Text:

Congress Provides Security Assistance for Israel. Congress passed—and President Bush signed into law—a continuing resolution providing Israel with $2.38 billion in security assistance. In combination with the additional $170 million in aid to Israel approved earlier this year, the Jewish state will receive $2.55 billion in security assistance for fiscal year 2009—in line with the first year of the new 10-year, $30 billion security assistance agreement reached between the United States and Israel in 2007. The continuing resolution also includes language ensuring that Israel be allowed to use a larger amount of its military assistance in Israel.

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Lawmakers Condemn Prospect of Iran on Security Council. Twenty-three House members sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad asking him to urge his U.N. colleagues not to grant Iran’s request to become a member of the U.N. Security Council. The letter, authored by Reps. John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr. (R-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), notes that Iran’s calls for the destruction of the United States and Israel and its support for terrorist groups constitute a direct violation of the U.N. Charter. The letter also condemns Iran’s nuclear weapons pursuit. Subsequently, Iran’s application for Security Council membership was overwhelmingly rejected.

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House Calls for Durban Conference to Rein in Anti-Semitism. The House passed a resolution by voice vote that calls upon the Bush administration to urge other world leaders to condition their participation in the 2009 Durban conference on racism on moves by member states to ensure that the conference does not foment anti-Semitism or delegitimize Israel’s right to exist. The resolution, sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), comes after the previous Durban conference in 2001 devolved into a forum for Arab countries to defame the Jewish state.  •NER•

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