Reprinted from Wallwritings
Two news items surfaced Tuesday, April 21, that offer contrasting world views of Israel's Occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Item number one is from the daily news report issued by the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC).
Item number two is an alert from End the Occupation informing readers that Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin has introduced an anti-BDS amendment to a pending bill in the Senate Finance Committee.
If passed, this amendment would make it a "principal trade negotiating objective of the United States" to "discourage politically motivated actions" that "limit commercial relations" with Israel and Israeli businesses, including those operating in Occupied Palestinian Territory.
In less formal senatorial language, what Senator Cardin offers is an anti-BDS (Boycott Divestment, Sanctions) amendment designed to protect the modern state of Israel from a non-violent tactic to expose and hopefully reduce the daily atrocities of Israel's occupation.
In recent years BDS has grown in worldwide influence. Any action aimed at Israel's occupation of Palestine alarms AIPAC. When AIPAC is alarmed, Liberal and Conservative Zionist senators of both political parties, receive their marching orders.
Senator Cardin, the new ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is the senator pushing this anti-BDS amendment. He was elevated to his post after the resignation of the previous Democratic ranking member, New Jersey's Sen. Robert Menendez, an ardent Zionist, who voluntarily stepped down as ranking member Wednesday, April 15.
His resignation was prompted by his indictment on federal charges of bribery and conspiracy. Menendez pledges to fight the allegations. He remains a member of the committee and the senate.
Neither of these stories, one from IMEMC, and the other from End the Occupation, is expected to receive much exposure in mainstream U.S. media outlets.
Both items however, carry long-range consequences and offer a moral challenge to the consciences of the American public.
Item number one from IMEMC reports that on Tuesday, April 21, at dawn, Israeli soldiers invaded a number of villages and towns in the southern West Bank district of Hebron.
IDF soldier involved in a nighttime incursion into the Hebron district
(Image by alfajertv.com.) Details DMCA
The soldiers searched homes, and kidnapped three Palestinians. Three other Palestinians were given military orders for future interrogation. Soldiers also kidnapped one Palestinian in Bethlehem.
It is a familiar story, repeated daily in various locations throughout Palestine. It is a story that represents nothing less than an ongoing Israeli strategy to intimidate and subdue the Palestinian people.
The Senate amendment, according to End the Occupation "is designed to pressure the European Union (EU), which is currently negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) with the United States, to reverse course on the steps it has taken in recent years to oppose Israeli settlements."
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