washington | A week after Israel took on Hezbollah in response to a cross-border attack, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution expressing support for the Jewish state.
Efforts by both houses of Congress to rush through earlier resolutions were dogged by political turf wars and agonizing over how best to express concerns about the safety of Lebanese civilians.
The arguments were reflected in the only significant difference between the final Senate version, passed unanimously on July 18, and the final U.S. House of Representatives version, which passed July 20 in a 410-8 vote. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) abstained from the vote, while Rep. Peter Stark (D-Fremont) was opposed. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo/San Francisco) sponsored the bill for the Democrats.
The difference boiled down to 10 words in the “resolved” section of the final Senate version, which “urges all sides to protect innocent civilian life and infrastructure.” No similar language appears in the House version, which instead recognized “Israel’s longstanding commitment to minimizing civilian loss.”
Both resolutions were overwhelmingly positive for Israel. Each supported Israel’s right to defend itself and pursue state sponsors of terrorism.
“Congress recognizes that Israel has been forced to respond to unprovoked attacks and, like the United States and all sovereign nations, has the right and duty to defend its citizens,” AIPAC said in a statement.
Beneath the comity, however, Democrats and Republicans exchanged barbs about “playing politics” — and each said the other side was behind the delay.
Concern for civilian casualties also dogged passage of the Senate resolution — but in this case, at least in part, because a leading Republican expressed reservations.
Democrats also said Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) hoped to have the resolution on the floor by July 13, a day after Hezbollah launched its rocket attacks on Israel and killed eight soldiers and captured another two in a cross-border raid. Pelosi was willing to override the protocol, which would run the bill through the relevant committee.
Henry Hyde, who heads the relevant committee, persuaded John Boehner to restore the protocol, Democrats said, which delayed the vote.
Sources in the pro-Israel community confirmed that sequence of events. Ira Forman, the executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said Republicans were too busy addressing “wedge” issues ahead of November elections in which they stand to lose one or both houses.