renegadetribune--2020-10-22--The Value of Testimony and Confessions Concerning the Holocaust

The Value of Testimony and Confessions Concerning the Holocaust In the debate about the Holocaust one of the main arguments of popular opinion is that there are a great many statements of eyewitnesses to document the National Socialist mass extermination , and that especially the many confessions of perpetrators among the SS are irrefutable proof of the existence of a program of deliberate extermination of the jews in the Third Reich .
[ 2 ] For this reason , it is claimed , the lack of documentary and material evidence is irrelevant .
[ 3 ] First of all , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is no material evidence .
The present work is a compendium of such material evidence , which , however , all goes to refute certain aspects of the Holocaust as these are related by witnesses and maintained accordingly by the courts and by academia .
The justice system as well as academics of the establishment ignore this material evidence ; nevertheless , the question arises as to how eyewitness testimony is to be evaluated .
It is important to note that neither objective historians nor jurists may uncritically accept everything that someone recounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must establish the value of such reports .
The first step in this process is to fit eyewitness testimony properly into the hierarchy of the various types of evidence .
Then one must consider how the individual testimony came to be – for example , whether there were manipulative factors that may have impinged on the witness and influenced his testimony .
Since most of the eyewitness statements concerning the Holocaust were made in the course of preliminary legal proceedings and of trials , we shall first clarify the value accorded to eyewitness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Value of Eyewitness Evidence in General In academia as well as in the justice system of a state under the rule of law , there is a hierarchy of evidence reflecting the evidential value .
In this hierarchy , material and documentary evidence is always superior to eyewitness testimony .
[ 4 ] Thus , academia as well as the justice system regard eyewitness testimony as the least reliable form of evidence , since human memory is imperfect and easily manipulated .
[ 5 ] According to Rolf Bender , a German expert @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unreliable nature renders eyewitness testimony merely circumstantial evidence , in other words , not direct evidence .
[ 6 ] What standards must be met for eyewitness testimony to be usable in court ?
[ 7 ] 1 .
The witness must be credible .
While making no claims to completeness , the following lists a few criteria for determining credibility : • If witnesses are emotionally too involved in the cases under investigation , this may distort the testimony in one direction or the other , without this necessarily being a conscious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that a witness is not overly concerned about truthfulness , this casts doubts upon his further credibility .
• The frankness of testimony may be limited if a witness is subjected to direct or indirect pressure that makes him deem it advisable to configure his testimony accordingly .
• A person ’ s memory is easy to manipulate .
Events reported by acquaintances or in the media can easily become assimilated as ‘ personal experience ’ .
Thus , if a witness has been exposed intensively to one-sided accounts of the trial substance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well affect his testimony to reflect these impressions .
• None Temporal distance from the events to be attested to .
It is generally known that the reliability of eyewitness testimony diminishes greatly after only a few days , and after several months has been so severely influenced and altered by the replacement of forgotten details with subsequent impressions that it retains hardly any value as evidence .
[ 8 ] • Testimony must be free of contradictions and in accordance with the rules of logic .
• Testimony must fit into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of evidence ( documents , material evidence ) .
• Testimony must report such matters as can be reconciled with the laws of nature and with what was technically possible at the time in question .
While the issues listed under 2. are easily verified , the circumstances listed under 1. are often difficult or impossible to determine and thus involve the greatest effort for the least return .
One must keep in mind that every witness experienced a certain event differently , from a purely subjective and personal point of view .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ depending on his/her physical and psychological state .
He/she will ultimately recount the experience in a strictly subjective manner depending on his/her abilities and on the occasion at hand .
So even if two witnesses are completely impartial and credible and their statements are plausible , they nevertheless may not report the same thing .
[ 9 ] The testimony of parties in dispute before the Court – i.e.
, the statements of the prosecution and the defense – must naturally be considered in an especially critical light since each party has a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exonerating itself .
[ 10 ] But even impartial witnesses are often very far removed from the objective truth , and the fact that ( although this has been well known for centuries ) eyewitness testimony is still accorded disproportionately great significance in court even today , has repeatedly drawn sharp criticism from qualified sources [ 11 ] and has frequently resulted in gross miscarriages of justice .
From a judicial point of view , confessions – both in and out of court – are considered to be circumstantial evidence , since past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of all confessions are false .
False confessions may be made in order to • bask in the limelight of a crime ; In the Federal Republic of Germany as well , miscarriages of justice unfortunately occur time and again as a result of false confessions .
[ 12 ] The same goes accordingly for self-incriminating testimony which need not always be true .
It is all the more surprising , therefore , that the otherwise knowledgeable R. Bender would categorize a self-incriminating witness as being generally truthful .
[ 13 ] • @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grave has been searched for , found , exhumed or examined relative to this subject complex .
[ 14 ] • Not one of the allegedly numerous and giant burning sites has been looked for , located , dug up or examined .
• In no case were the alleged murder weapons sought and found , i.e.
, examined forensically by international committees or by courts under the rule of law .
It is thus not surprising that Rückerl dispenses with any mention of material evidence and instead declares documentary evidence as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even without any material evidence with respect to the authenticity and correctness of the documents themselves .
[ 15 ] Otherwise , only Revisionists have presented material evidence , as other authors will do in the following .
It is always surprising to see how aggressively the historians of the establishment respond to any objection that a document , which allegedly proves the Holocaust , might be forged or falsified , irrelevant , or might have been misinterpreted .
On this point our contemporary historians exhibit the same aversion to detailed document criticism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where material evidence is concerned .
After all , document criticism is nothing more nor less than the expert assessment of a document .
In other words , it is the furnishing of material evidence regarding the authenticity and factual correctness of a document .
3.2 .
Eyewitness Evidence in the Orthodox View of the Holocaust Part of the testimony or statements regarding the Holocaust came in the form of written declarations or , more recently , as radio and television programs .
In both cases it is easy to assess these statements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 , but there is usually no opportunity to speak with the witness personally in order to learn more details and to establish his credibility and the plausibility of his testimony , for example by means of cross-examination .
Critiques of the statements published in the various media are both numerous and extensive , [ 17 ] and a more comprehensive work was presented recently .
[ 18 ] However , these witnesses usually evade the requests of critical contemporaries to make themselves available to cross-examination .
[ 19 ] And while radio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they never ask them any critical questions , and deny interested researchers and lawyers access to these witnesses by keeping their address or even their entire identity secret .
But these paper- and celluloid-witnesses can only be accorded evidential value once their statements have stood up to critical examination .
In the following chapter , Robert Faurisson reports about the first two of such a critical examination of this kind of witness to date .
In this section , therefore , we will focus primarily on statements made in court , particularly since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system prompts the public to accord these a greater significance .
The very critical view , at least theoretically , taken by courts of witness and party testimony is based on the understanding of human nature gained in the course of centuries by many jurists .
It should be accepted as a valid guideline by historians as well , even if the methods used to determine truth in scientific pursuits are necessarily different than those employed in court .
For example , while a Court must reach an absolute decision regarding what is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must do so within a limited period of time , science can not , indeed may not reach a conclusive and final verdict if it wants to remain true to its maxim of openness in every respect .
Whereas in a court case the close relation of the proceedings to a human fate causes emotion to exert a strong and distorting influence on the process by which the verdict is reached , this influence usually is , or should be , minor in scientific pursuits .
When we discuss in the following the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the entirety of the foundation on which the structure of the Holocaust rests , we must bear in mind that for the most part these statements were made in the course of trials or at least for the purpose of incriminating or exonerating someone before a court or the public .
Practically no eyewitness accounts exist that were made outside a courtroom situation and free of emotion .
The subject matter itself and the emotions with which it is charged have seen to that .
The truth of testimony and confessions must therefore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ qualified experts – something that regularly does not happen in the so-called “ NSG trials “ .
[ 20 ] And all the more we must ask to what extent such testimony can serve the cause of a science dependent for its closest possible approach to the truth on reports not tainted by emotion .
It is already a very questionable procedure to try to ‘ write history ’ through eyewitness testimony in court and through the verdicts based thereon , even if both were the result of trials conducted strictly under the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the more suspect when those who ‘ write the history ’ draw on eyewitness testimony as evidence even when this testimony was rejected by the ruling court as lacking credibility .
[ 21 ] The science of historiography is thus faced with the dilemma that it has only these at least partially questionable statements to rely on , and must therefore make do with them .
But then it is all the more important for this science to consider the circumstances under which these statements came about , for their value depends @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prosecution , the defense and the Court , but also the media and the general public were disposed towards the witnesses and the accused .
3.2.3 .
An Expert Opinion about the Value of Testimony Regarding the Holocaust There is currently no topic of human history that is treated more emotionally and one-sidedly in public than the Holocaust .
It represents the central taboo of western civilization , and to question it is the epitome of heresy , and punishable by imprisonment in many western democracies .
Given this state of affairs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eyewitness testimony , Professor Elisabeth Loftus , pointed out in 1991 that , for many different reasons , testimony pertaining to actual ( or merely alleged ) National Socialist atrocities , witnessed in a particularly high stage of emotion , is less reliable than almost any other testimony .
Elaborating , she observes : • The time elapsed since the end of World War II has contributed to an inevitable fading of recollections .
• In trials of alleged National Socialist criminals pre-trial publicity has meant that witnesses had generally known the identity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were charged with already before the trial .
• Prosecutors have asked witnesses leading questions , such as whether they could recognize the accused as the perpetrator .
Witnesses have rarely been called on to identify the accused from a number of unknown people .
• It is fairly certain that witnesses have discussed identifications among themselves , which facilitated subsequent ‘ identifications ’ by other witnesses .
• Photos of defendants have been exhibited repeatedly , each additional showing of the pictures making witnesses more familiar with the face of the accused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The extremely emotional nature of these cases further increases the risk of a distortion of memory , since the accused to be identified by the witnesses were more than alleged tool of the National Socialists – they were devils incarnates : said to have tortured , maimed and mass-murdered prisoners .
They were allegedly responsible for the murder of the witnesses ’ mothers , fathers , brothers , sisters , wives and children .
[ 22 ] • Professor Loftus , herself jewish , uses her own experience to describe how a false @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her people and “ race “ , as she puts it , prevented her from taking a stand against the obviously false testimony of her fellow Jews .
It is safe to assume that this is a widespread , common reflex among jews .
[ 23 ] However , she omits three further factors that can contribute additionally to the massive distortion of memory where the Holocaust is concerned : • Accounts of witnesses ’ personal experiences have always – and not only during criminal trials – been widely disseminated by word of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and particularly among the witnesses themselves through personal correspondence and all sorts of relief organizations .
• Since at least the late 1970s the topic of the Holocaust has been ever-present in the mass media , and in an extremely one-sided manner , so that memories inevitably become standardized .
• Where the Holocaust is concerned , it is not only unforgivable but at times even a criminal offense not to know , not to admit , or perhaps only to doubt , certain things .
There is thus a very strong social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ witnesses in particular to recall certain ‘ facts ’ and to repress others .
If one considers all these factors and combines them with studies on the manipulability of human memory , such as the one recently published by Prof. Loftus in a leading scientific journal , [ 24 ] then one can not help but conclude that there is in fact no eye witness testimony less reliable than those on the Holocaust .
If in normal scientific and legal proceedings one accepts as a rule that eyewitness testimony is the least reliable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Holocaust is concerned it is necessary to observe that here the eyewitness testimony may only serve to flesh out the framework of historical events as established by documentary evidence , and perhaps to give clues to events whose occurrence has yet to be proven by documents or material evidence .
But anyone who relies chiefly on eyewitness testimony and assigns it a greater value as evidence than documentary or even material evidence can not seriously claim to adhere to the scientific method in his work .
Thus , the present volume pays @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many claims made by witnesses .
6 .
Examples of Absurd Claims Regarding the Alleged National Socialist Genocide [ 355 ] • child surviving six gassings in a gas chamber that never existed ; [ 356 ] • woman survived three gassings because “ Nazis ” kept running out of gas ; [ 357 ] • fairy tale of a bear and an eagle in a cage , eating one jew per day ; [ 358 ] • soap production from human fat with imprint “ RIF ” – ‘ Reine Juden Seife @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solemn burial of soap ; [ 361 ] • the SS made sausage in the crematoria out of human flesh ( ‘ RIW ’ – ‘ Reine Juden Wurst ’ ? )
; [ 362 ] • lampshades , book covers , driving gloves for SS officers , saddles , riding breeches , house slippers , and ladies handbags of human skin ; [ 363 ] • mummified human thumbs were used as light switches in the house of Ilse Koch , wife of KL commander Koch ( Buchenwald ) ; [ 365 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bodies of inmates ; [ 366 ] • muscles cut from the legs of executed inmates contracted so strongly that they made the buckets jump about ; [ 368 ] • an SS-father potshooting babies thrown into the air while 9-year old SS-daughter applauds and shrieks : “ Papa , do it again ; do it again , Papa !
“ [ 369 ] • jewish children used by Hitler-Youth for target practice ; [ 370 ] • wagons disappearing on an incline into the underground crematoria in Auschwitz ( such facilities never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forcing prisoners to lick stairs clean , and collect garbage with their lips ; [ 372 ] • injections into the eyes of inmates to change their eye color ; [ 373 ] • first artificially fertilize women at Auschwitz , then gas them ; [ 374 ] • torturing people by shooting at them with wooden bullets to make them talk ; [ 376 ] • killing by drinking a glass of liquid hydrogen cyanide ( which , scientifically considered , evaporates quickly and would endanger those who pouring it into said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underground mass extermination in enormous rooms , by means of high voltage electricity ; [ 380 ] • blast 20,000 jews into the twilight zone with atomic bombs ; [ 381 ] • mass murder by tree cutting : forcing people to climb trees , then cutting the trees down ; [ 384 ] • killing a boy by forcing him to eat sand ; [ 385 ] • gas chambers on wheels in Treblinka , which dumped their victims directly into burning pits ; delayed-action poison gas that allowed the victims to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mass graves by themselves ; [ 387 ] • beating people to death , then carrying out autopsies to see why they died ; [ 389 ] • introduction of Zyklon gas into the gas chambers of Auschwitz through shower heads or from steel bottles ; [ 390 ] • bashing people ’ s brains in with a pedal-driven brain-bashing machine while listening to the radio ; [ 392 ] • cremation of human bodies using no fuel at all ; [ 394 ] • mass graves containing hundreds of thousands of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few weeks ; a true miracle of improvisation on the part of the Germans ; [ 396 ] • killing 840,000 Russian POWs at Sachsenhausen , and burning the bodies in 4 portable ovens ; [ 397 ] • removal of corpses by means of blasting , i.e.
, blowing them up ; [ 398 ] • SS bicycle races in the gas chamber of Birkenau ; [ 399 ] • out of pity for complete strangers – a jewish mother and her child – an SS-man leaps into the gas chamber @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to die with them ; [ 400 ] • blue haze after gassing with hydrogen cyanide ( which is colorless ) ; [ 401 ] • singing of national anthems and the Communist International by the victims in the gas chamber ; evidence of atrocity propaganda of Communist origin ; [ 402 ] • a twelve-year old boy giving an impressive and heroic speech in front of the other camp children before being ‘ gassed ’ ; [ 403 ] • filling the mouths of victims with cement to prevent them from singing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ]

The Value of Testimony and Confessions Concerning the Holocaust
1. Introduction
In the debate about the Holocaust one of the main arguments of popular opinion is that there are a great many statements of eyewitnesses to document the National Socialist mass extermination, and that especially the many confessions of perpetrators among the SS are irrefutable proof of the existence of a program of deliberate extermination of the jews in the Third Reich.[2] For this reason, it is claimed, the lack of documentary and material evidence is irrelevant.[3]
First of all, it is incorrect to say that there is no material evidence. The present work is a compendium of such material evidence, which, however, all goes to refute certain aspects of the Holocaust as these are related by witnesses and maintained accordingly by the courts and by academia. The justice system as well as academics of the establishment ignore this material evidence; nevertheless, the question arises as to how eyewitness testimony is to be evaluated.
It is important to note that neither objective historians nor jurists may uncritically accept everything that someone recounts as being the plain truth, but must establish the value of such reports. The first step in this process is to fit eyewitness testimony properly into the hierarchy of the various types of evidence. Then one must consider how the individual testimony came to be – for example, whether there were manipulative factors that may have impinged on the witness and influenced his testimony.
Since most of the eyewitness statements concerning the Holocaust were made in the course of preliminary legal proceedings and of trials, we shall first clarify the value accorded to eyewitness testimony in court.
2. The Value of Eyewitness Evidence in General
In academia as well as in the justice system of a state under the rule of law, there is a hierarchy of evidence reflecting the evidential value. In this hierarchy, material and documentary evidence is always superior to eyewitness testimony.[4] Thus, academia as well as the justice system regard eyewitness testimony as the least reliable form of evidence, since human memory is imperfect and easily manipulated.[5] According to Rolf Bender, a German expert on the evaluation of evidence, its unreliable nature renders eyewitness testimony merely circumstantial evidence, in other words, not direct evidence.[6]
What standards must be met for eyewitness testimony to be usable in court?[7]
1. The witness must be credible.
While making no claims to completeness, the following lists a few criteria for determining credibility:
Emotional involvement. If witnesses are emotionally too involved in the cases under investigation, this may distort the testimony in one direction or the other, without this necessarily being a conscious process. Veracity. If it turns out that a witness is not overly concerned about truthfulness, this casts doubts upon his further credibility. Testimony under coercion. The frankness of testimony may be limited if a witness is subjected to direct or indirect pressure that makes him deem it advisable to configure his testimony accordingly. Third-party influence. A person’s memory is easy to manipulate. Events reported by acquaintances or in the media can easily become assimilated as ‘personal experience’. Thus, if a witness has been exposed intensively to one-sided accounts of the trial substance prior to testifying, this can very well affect his testimony to reflect these impressions. Temporal distance from the events to be attested to. It is generally known that the reliability of eyewitness testimony diminishes greatly after only a few days, and after several months has been so severely influenced and altered by the replacement of forgotten details with subsequent impressions that it retains hardly any value as evidence.[8]
2. Testimony must be plausible.
Internal consistency. Testimony must be free of contradictions and in accordance with the rules of logic. Correctness of historical context. Testimony must fit into the historical context established conclusively by higher forms of evidence (documents, material evidence). Technical and scientific reality. Testimony must report such matters as can be reconciled with the laws of nature and with what was technically possible at the time in question.
While the issues listed under 2. are easily verified, the circumstances listed under 1. are often difficult or impossible to determine and thus involve the greatest effort for the least return. One must keep in mind that every witness experienced a certain event differently, from a purely subjective and personal point of view. He or she internalized it differently, depending on his/her physical and psychological state. He/she will ultimately recount the experience in a strictly subjective manner depending on his/her abilities and on the occasion at hand. So even if two witnesses are completely impartial and credible and their statements are plausible, they nevertheless may not report the same thing.[9]
The testimony of parties in dispute before the Court – i.e., the statements of the prosecution and the defense – must naturally be considered in an especially critical light since each party has a vested interest in incriminating its opponent and exonerating itself.[10] But even impartial witnesses are often very far removed from the objective truth, and the fact that (although this has been well known for centuries) eyewitness testimony is still accorded disproportionately great significance in court even today, has repeatedly drawn sharp criticism from qualified sources[11] and has frequently resulted in gross miscarriages of justice.
From a judicial point of view, confessions – both in and out of court – are considered to be circumstantial evidence, since past experience has shown that a large part of all confessions are false. False confessions may be made in order to
cover for a third party;
bask in the limelight of a crime;
put a stop to grueling interrogation;
gain a mitigated sentence by exhibiting remorse and repentance;
as a result of psychological disorders; etc…
In the Federal Republic of Germany as well, miscarriages of justice unfortunately occur time and again as a result of false confessions.[12] The same goes accordingly for self-incriminating testimony which need not always be true. It is all the more surprising, therefore, that the otherwise knowledgeable R. Bender would categorize a self-incriminating witness as being generally truthful.[13]
3. Forms of Evidence in Holocaust Studies
3.1. Material and Documentary Evidence
In orthodox Holocaust studies material evidence is practically nonexistent:
To date, not a single mass grave has been searched for, found, exhumed or examined relative to this subject complex.[14]
Not one of the allegedly numerous and giant burning sites has been looked for, located, dug up or examined.
In no case were the alleged murder weapons sought and found, i.e., examined forensically by international committees or by courts under the rule of law.
It is thus not surprising that Rückerl dispenses with any mention of material evidence and instead declares documentary evidence as the best and most important form of evidence even without any material evidence with respect to the authenticity and correctness of the documents themselves.[15]
Otherwise, only Revisionists have presented material evidence, as other authors will do in the following.
It is always surprising to see how aggressively the historians of the establishment respond to any objection that a document, which allegedly proves the Holocaust, might be forged or falsified, irrelevant, or might have been misinterpreted. On this point our contemporary historians exhibit the same aversion to detailed document criticism[16] as they also cherish where material evidence is concerned. After all, document criticism is nothing more nor less than the expert assessment of a document. In other words, it is the furnishing of material evidence regarding the authenticity and factual correctness of a document.
3.2. Eyewitness Evidence in the Orthodox View of the Holocaust
3.2.1. Media Statements as Evidence for Historiography?
Part of the testimony or statements regarding the Holocaust came in the form of written declarations or, more recently, as radio and television programs. In both cases it is easy to assess these statements in terms of the points listed under 2, but there is usually no opportunity to speak with the witness personally in order to learn more details and to establish his credibility and the plausibility of his testimony, for example by means of cross-examination. Critiques of the statements published in the various media are both numerous and extensive,[17] and a more comprehensive work was presented recently.[18] However, these witnesses usually evade the requests of critical contemporaries to make themselves available to cross-examination.[19] And while radio and television regularly present new witnesses, they never ask them any critical questions, and deny interested researchers and lawyers access to these witnesses by keeping their address or even their entire identity secret. But these paper- and celluloid-witnesses can only be accorded evidential value once their statements have stood up to critical examination. In the following chapter, Robert Faurisson reports about the first two of such a critical examination of this kind of witness to date. In this section, therefore, we will focus primarily on statements made in court, particularly since the supposed justness of the German justice system prompts the public to accord these a greater significance.
3.2.2. Court Testimony as Evidence for Historiography?
The very critical view, at least theoretically, taken by courts of witness and party testimony is based on the understanding of human nature gained in the course of centuries by many jurists. It should be accepted as a valid guideline by historians as well, even if the methods used to determine truth in scientific pursuits are necessarily different than those employed in court. For example, while a Court must reach an absolute decision regarding what is true and what is false, and must do so within a limited period of time, science cannot, indeed may not reach a conclusive and final verdict if it wants to remain true to its maxim of openness in every respect. Whereas in a court case the close relation of the proceedings to a human fate causes emotion to exert a strong and distorting influence on the process by which the verdict is reached, this influence usually is, or should be, minor in scientific pursuits.
When we discuss in the following the witness testimony and confessions that represent almost the entirety of the foundation on which the structure of the Holocaust rests, we must bear in mind that for the most part these statements were made in the course of trials or at least for the purpose of incriminating or exonerating someone before a court or the public. Practically no eyewitness accounts exist that were made outside a courtroom situation and free of emotion. The subject matter itself and the emotions with which it is charged have seen to that. The truth of testimony and confessions must therefore be carefully examined before the court by qualified experts – something that regularly does not happen in the so-called “NSG trials“.[20] And all the more we must ask to what extent such testimony can serve the cause of a science dependent for its closest possible approach to the truth on reports not tainted by emotion. It is already a very questionable procedure to try to ‘write history’ through eyewitness testimony in court and through the verdicts based thereon, even if both were the result of trials conducted strictly under the rule of law. The procedure becomes all the more suspect when those who ‘write the history’ draw on eyewitness testimony as evidence even when this testimony was rejected by the ruling court as lacking credibility.[21]
The science of historiography is thus faced with the dilemma that it has only these at least partially questionable statements to rely on, and must therefore make do with them. But then it is all the more important for this science to consider the circumstances under which these statements came about, for their value depends not least of all on how fairly the prosecution, the defense and the Court, but also the media and the general public were disposed towards the witnesses and the accused.
3.2.3. An Expert Opinion about the Value of Testimony Regarding the Holocaust
There is currently no topic of human history that is treated more emotionally and one-sidedly in public than the Holocaust. It represents the central taboo of western civilization, and to question it is the epitome of heresy, and punishable by imprisonment in many western democracies.
Given this state of affairs, the expert on the evaluation of eyewitness testimony, Professor Elisabeth Loftus, pointed out in 1991 that, for many different reasons, testimony pertaining to actual (or merely alleged) National Socialist atrocities, witnessed in a particularly high stage of emotion, is less reliable than almost any other testimony. Elaborating, she observes:
The time elapsed since the end of World War II has contributed to an inevitable fading of recollections. In trials of alleged National Socialist criminals pre-trial publicity has meant that witnesses had generally known the identity of the defendants and the crimes they were charged with already before the trial. Prosecutors have asked witnesses leading questions, such as whether they could recognize the accused as the perpetrator. Witnesses have rarely been called on to identify the accused from a number of unknown people. It is fairly certain that witnesses have discussed identifications among themselves, which facilitated subsequent ‘identifications’ by other witnesses. Photos of defendants have been exhibited repeatedly, each additional showing of the pictures making witnesses more familiar with the face of the accused, and thus increasingly certain. The extremely emotional nature of these cases further increases the risk of a distortion of memory, since the accused to be identified by the witnesses were more than alleged tool of the National Socialists – they were devils incarnates: said to have tortured, maimed and mass-murdered prisoners. They were allegedly responsible for the murder of the witnesses’ mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives and children.[22] Professor Loftus, herself jewish, uses her own experience to describe how a false sense of loyalty to her heritage and her people and “race“, as she puts it, prevented her from taking a stand against the obviously false testimony of her fellow Jews. It is safe to assume that this is a widespread, common reflex among jews.[23]
However, she omits three further factors that can contribute additionally to the massive distortion of memory where the Holocaust is concerned:
Accounts of witnesses’ personal experiences have always – and not only during criminal trials – been widely disseminated by word of mouth, print and broadcast media, and particularly among the witnesses themselves through personal correspondence and all sorts of relief organizations. Since at least the late 1970s the topic of the Holocaust has been ever-present in the mass media, and in an extremely one-sided manner, so that memories inevitably become standardized. Where the Holocaust is concerned, it is not only unforgivable but at times even a criminal offense not to know, not to admit, or perhaps only to doubt, certain things. There is thus a very strong social (or even legal) pressure on witnesses in particular to recall certain ‘facts’ and to repress others.
If one considers all these factors and combines them with studies on the manipulability of human memory, such as the one recently published by Prof. Loftus in a leading scientific journal,[24] then one cannot help but conclude that there is in fact no eye witness testimony less reliable than those on the Holocaust. If in normal scientific and legal proceedings one accepts as a rule that eyewitness testimony is the least reliable kind of evidence, then insofar as the Holocaust is concerned it is necessary to observe that here the eyewitness testimony may only serve to flesh out the framework of historical events as established by documentary evidence, and perhaps to give clues to events whose occurrence has yet to be proven by documents or material evidence. But anyone who relies chiefly on eyewitness testimony and assigns it a greater value as evidence than documentary or even material evidence cannot seriously claim to adhere to the scientific method in his work. Thus, the present volume pays particular attention to the critical analysis of many claims made by witnesses.
6. Examples of Absurd Claims Regarding the Alleged National Socialist Genocide[355]


renegadetribune--2020-10-22--Classical Music for Halloween

Classical Music for Halloween

Get into the spirit of Halloween ( Samhain ) the classy way , by listening to some spooky classical music @ @ @ @ @ know and some you might not .

Get into the spirit of Halloween (Samhain) the classy way, by listening to some spooky classical music, from some composers you know and some you might not.


renegadetribune--2020-10-22--As Gov’t Puts Kids In Bubbles, Study Suggests Playing In The Dirt Boosts Immune Systems

As more states and countries attempt to send children back to school amid the COVID-19 pandemic , we have seen some utterly horrifying scenarios .
Masked up and shielded children of all ages are being forced to stay behind plastic sheets , dividers , and some are even kept inside polyethylene cages with little to no evidence showing its effectiveness .
Depriving kids of crucial exposure to diverse bacteria may be far worse than just the psychological implications as a new study shows children ’ s immune systems appear to thrive when playing in the wild .
According to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Science Advances , children who played in formerly gravel-covered urban day care center yards renovated with natural forest floor developed more diverse microbiomes ( gut and skin bacteria ) and signs of better-regulated immune systems within just one month .
The results were utterly astounding and show just how beneficial the act of being a kid and playing in the dirt can be .
The study examined 75 Finnish children between the ages of 3 and 5 who were all examined prior to the changes .
After only 28 days of playing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sterilized gravel or concrete playgrounds , the children had significantly more diverse skin and gut bacteria and a stronger presence of anti-inflammatory proteins in their bodies than children in day care centers without the intervention .
In short , instead of putting kids in bubbles , we should probably let them play in the dirt .
As the American Association for the Advancement of Science points out , city residents are not known for their flourishing gut microbiomes .
Frequent antibiotic use and exposure to urban pollutants are believed to take a toll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inner microbial communities .
Though researchers point out that the findings will require further research , this study suggests that simply being exposed to diverse microbiota from the outdoors is incredibly beneficial to building children ’ s resistance to infection .
To help urban children sustain health-supporting microbiota and to test their hypothesis , researchers at the University of Helsinki worked with ten daycare centers .
Four of them were given new yards and transformed into green oases consisting on topsoil and a rich spread of native vegetation .
Three other daycare centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The other urban daycare centers were were left unmodified .
When the 28 day experiment was complete researchers “ found that the microbiota of the children at standard day care centers that received the intervention shifted , becoming more like the microbiomes of children who attended the nature-oriented day care centers .
Children at the intervention centers had more diverse Proteobacterial and Gammaproteobacterial communities on their skin after the trial , while the relative abundance of Clostridiales bacteria in their guts decreased and the diversity of Ruminococcaceae increased .
Similar changes were not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unmodified day care centers .
Finland is now developing techniques to provide more biodiversity at these urban environments to provide all children with the immune boosting benefits of playing in the dirt .
Sadly , many countries , including parts of the United States , are moving in the opposite direction .
Thanks to a now verifiably incorrect campaign of fear waged by mainstream media over children returning to school , there are still millions of school children in the US alone who have been locked in their apartments or houses with no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has even begun to admit just how wrong they were for waging this fear campaign and admit that schools are not the super-spreading pits of contagion they were made out to be .
Nevertheless , many are still arguing to keep schools entirely virtual until they are “ completely safe.
” Sadly , this approach ignores costs like the mental health of children , the effects it has on lower income children , and the “ toxic stress ” it causes for the young .
Early on in the pandemic it was clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had no idea what to do .
Since then , however , we have empirical data that shows school is safe , not only for students but for staff as well .
If we couple the new study above and the potential benefits it could provide with the fact that children are being denied the ability to return to school , the anti-openers are conducting a two pronged approach to harming children both psychologically as well as physically .
Something has to change .
This article originally appeared on The Free Thought Project @

By Matt Agorist
As more states and countries attempt to send children back to school amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen some utterly horrifying scenarios. Masked up and shielded children of all ages are being forced to stay behind plastic sheets, dividers, and some are even kept inside polyethylene cages with little to no evidence showing its effectiveness. Depriving kids of crucial exposure to diverse bacteria may be far worse than just the psychological implications as a new study shows children’s immune systems appear to thrive when playing in the wild.
According to a new study in the October 16 issue of Science Advances, children who played in formerly gravel-covered urban day care center yards renovated with natural forest floor developed more diverse microbiomes (gut and skin bacteria) and signs of better-regulated immune systems within just one month.
The results were utterly astounding and show just how beneficial the act of being a kid and playing in the dirt can be. The study examined 75 Finnish children between the ages of 3 and 5 who were all examined prior to the changes. After only 28 days of playing on the forest floor instead of the sterilized gravel or concrete playgrounds, the children had significantly more diverse skin and gut bacteria and a stronger presence of anti-inflammatory proteins in their bodies than children in day care centers without the intervention.
In short, instead of putting kids in bubbles, we should probably let them play in the dirt.
“We were surprised that the findings were so clear even though we did not get as many participants as we had hoped,” said Aki Sinkkonen, a research scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland in Turku and an author of the study.
As the American Association for the Advancement of Science points out, city residents are not known for their flourishing gut microbiomes. Frequent antibiotic use and exposure to urban pollutants are believed to take a toll on the structure of city dwellers’ inner microbial communities.
Though researchers point out that the findings will require further research, this study suggests that simply being exposed to diverse microbiota from the outdoors is incredibly beneficial to building children’s resistance to infection.
AAAS reports:
Previous studies have also shown that urban populations, with their less diverse gut microbiota but greater exposure to pathogens, are more susceptible to immune-mediated diseases. While the prominent “biodiversity hypothesis” blames lack of exposure to diverse microbiota, scientists had yet to procure evidence to support this hypothesis. “I am interested in the synergy between biodiversity conservation and actions supporting human health,” said Sinkkonen. “We wanted to find new ways to help urban children sustain health-supporting microbiota.”
To help urban children sustain health-supporting microbiota and to test their hypothesis, researchers at the University of Helsinki worked with ten daycare centers. Four of them were given new yards and transformed into green oases consisting on topsoil and a rich spread of native vegetation. Three other daycare centers took daily excursions to nearby forests. The other urban daycare centers were were left unmodified.
When the 28 day experiment was complete researchers “found that the microbiota of the children at standard day care centers that received the intervention shifted, becoming more like the microbiomes of children who attended the nature-oriented day care centers. Children at the intervention centers had more diverse Proteobacterial and Gammaproteobacterial communities on their skin after the trial, while the relative abundance of Clostridiales bacteria in their guts decreased and the diversity of Ruminococcaceae increased. Similar changes were not observed in children at the standard, unmodified day care centers.
“Importantly, children at the intervention day care centers also developed a higher ratio of the anti-inflammatory protein IL-10 to the pro-inflammatory protein IL-17A, suggesting that playing in the forest dirt stimulated their immunoregulatory pathways. In contrast, children at standard centers without the intervention did not experience a similar immune boost.”
Imagine that.
Finland is now developing techniques to provide more biodiversity at these urban environments to provide all children with the immune boosting benefits of playing in the dirt.
Sadly, many countries, including parts of the United States, are moving in the opposite direction.
Thanks to a now verifiably incorrect campaign of fear waged by mainstream media over children returning to school, there are still millions of school children in the US alone who have been locked in their apartments or houses with no outside contact or activity.
Mainstream media has even begun to admit just how wrong they were for waging this fear campaign and admit that schools are not the super-spreading pits of contagion they were made out to be. Nevertheless, many are still arguing to keep schools entirely virtual until they are “completely safe.”
Sadly, this approach ignores costs like the mental health of children, the effects it has on lower income children, and the “toxic stress” it causes for the young. Early on in the pandemic it was clear that everyone, including scientists and doctors had no idea what to do. Since then, however, we have empirical data that shows school is safe, not only for students but for staff as well.
If we couple the new study above and the potential benefits it could provide with the fact that children are being denied the ability to return to school, the anti-openers are conducting a two pronged approach to harming children both psychologically as well as physically. Something has to change.
This article originally appeared on The Free Thought Project.
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renegadetribune--2020-10-22--Congress Dreams Up More Ways to Give US Tax Dollars to Israel

Renegade Editor ’ s Note : The featured image was chosen by yours truly 🙂 Congress members , perhaps eager for campaign donations from wealthy pro-Israel donors , continue finding creative new legislation to slip Israel even more US tax money on top of the $ 10 million per day it already receives .
Welcome to the latest batch of bills designed to keep Israel front and center – bringing the total pieces of pro-Israel legislation for this session of Congress to NINETY .
In spite of the pandemic , in spite of the election and the Supreme Court vacancy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time pushing their Israel agenda .
Democrats who want to wait on the Supreme Court appointment till the new government comes in are rushing to add one more pro-Israel bill or resolution .
Members of the House of Representatives , each representing a small local population , are pulling together obscure , fiction-based narratives to rationalize more legislation .
It is important to remember that these bills in support of Israel are being introduced despite Israel ’ s long record of human rights violations , of racism against a sizable portion of its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. Below are the most recent bills before Congress , introduced since our last two articles .
Our first report itemized fifty pieces of legislation that were brought up in the first year of this Congressional session , 2019 ; the second covered roughly the first half of 2020 .
Below are those introduced since June – at the end of the list is the single new piece of legislation in support of justice for Palestinians , introduced by Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum .
7 bills for more weapons to Israel S.4474 – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Act to prohibit the export of certain unmanned aircraft systems ” This legislation seeks to prohibit the export of certain unmanned aircraft systems and related equipment – Israel is exempt from this ban ( as are NATO countries , Australia , New Zealand , Japan , and South Korea ) .
The Arms Export Control Act was designed to require that recipients of US armaments use them only for legitimate self-defense , and not in such a way as to “ increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict.
” International law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ self-defense ” argument for its many large and small incursions into Gaza – the incursions contributed to escalations of conflict .
The text of this bill includes all of the usual Israel-related expenses , and proposes furthering the US-Israel “ defense innovation partnership ” even more by creating an ongoing Working Group to “ research , develop , procure , and field weapons systems and military capabilities as quickly and economically as possible.
” An amendment to this legislation , proposed by fourteen Democratic senators , seeks to prohibit the use of US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the West Bank .
Another amendment , S.A.1895 , was slipped into the bill without debate , and without making the text available to American voters : the amendment seeks to codify into law the US annual aid to Israel ( currently $ 3.8 billion ) using wording that would “ prevent any future Administration or Congress from having the ability to use that aid as leverage ” ( that is , it would be impossible to make aid Israel conditional ) , and to ensure that the amount of aid could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This legislation calls on the President to “ seek to consult with appropriate officials of the Government of Israel ” before selling any major defense articles to Middle East countries , for the purpose of preserving Israel ’ s Qualitative Military Edge ( QME ) .
The bill , introduced in response to Trump ’ s plan to sell F-35s to the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) is described by The Jewish Telegraphic Agency ( JTA ) as “ an effective Israeli veto on US arms sales to the Middle East.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Defense should expedite delivery of precision-guided munitions to Israel “ This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that ( 1 ) regularized purchases of precision-guided munitions by Israel , coordinated with the U.S. Air Force annual purchase of precision-guided munitions , would enhance the security of the United States and Israel ; and ( 2 ) the Department of Defense should take measures to expedite deliveries of precision-guided munitions to Israel.
” Israel hosts a $ 1 billion stockpile of American weapons containing missiles , armored vehicles , and ammunition ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Korea ) – enabling Israel to replenish its supplies quickly if “ necessary.
” In the summer of 2014 , Israel burned through its arsenal so quickly in its attack on Gaza , that it requested and received permission through military channels to access the stockpile , bypassing standard White House approval .
Amnesty International was among the groups calling on the US to stop furnishing weapons in 2014 : In response to the sleight , the Obama administration added an official approval process to prevent Israeli PM Netanyahu from going behind his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ third ten-year Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU ) with the US – the current agreement set $ 3.8 billion as the minimum amount of military aid to Israel per year till 2028 , and allows for more for in various “ joint programs ” ( see below ) .
S.Res .
640 – ( exactly same wording as S.Res.669 ) The Israel section of this legislation earmarks $ 500 million in Israeli Cooperative Programs missile defense funding .
Congressional Research Service ( CRS ) reports that since 1948 , the US has given @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( over $ 1.5 billion for Iron Dome , Israel ’ s short-range missile defense system ) – in addition to over $ 100 billion in military aid and $ 34 billion in economic aid ( in current , non-inflation adjusted dollars ) .
However , when the US Army bought two Iron Dome systems from Israel , Israel refused to furnish necessary proprietary information , preventing integration of the apparatus with existing American technologies .
This legislation advances a policy whereby at least $ 3.3 billion of the DoS budget would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” It also calls for an end to the Arab League boycott of Israel and American firms that have ties with Israel , and normalized relations with Israel – without addressing the Arab League ’ s grievance against Israel ( namely , injustice against the Palestinians ) .
[ To Learn more about the Israel lobby go here . ]
The section of the bill on “ Palestinian Statehood ” would require that any Palestinian State be eligible for US aid only if it has , among other things , “ demonstrated a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State of Israel.
” As “ peaceful coexistence ” is defined by Israel and the US , this commitment would involve Palestinians giving up internationally recognized rights such as the right of return , the right to a decent quality of life , the right to justice , equality , and self-determination .
Funding would also be prohibited if Palestinians obtain member status in the United Nations without Israel ’ s permission , or ask the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) to investigate Israel for “ alleged crimes against Palestinians.
” 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel Continuing the trend of Israeli-US collaboration ( for example , read about S.3722 and H.R.6829 here , and S.Res.153 and H.Res.310 here ) , Congress is considering four newer bills that earmark funds for the two countries to partner on various projects .
These so-called “ joint programs ” effectively funnel money and/or material to Israel , condition Americans to see Israel as a “ partner , ” and serve as a reminder of Israel ’ s omnipresence in Washington .
It is common knowledge for those aware of the issue , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , has refused to share privileged information with us , and has attempted to destroy a Navy ship belonging to the US .
Yet , Israel partisans continue to claim that Israel is “ an ally.
” Introduced by Reps. Joe Wilson ( R-SC ) and Chrissy Houlahan ( D-PA ) on 6/11/2020 ( 6 cosponsors ) This bill asserts that collaboration with Israel is necessary in order to maintain military supremacy over China – which is , according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley , “ improving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ space , air , cyber , maritime , land domains , etc.
” The sponsors of this legislation suggest that Israel is the natural choice to partner with because of its “ innovative and agile defense technology sector ” ; however they do not take into account Israel ’ s testing of new weapons on Palestinians before marketing them around the world , including to countries that perpetrate human rights abuses .
The bill also fails to take into account that Israel ’ s alleged prowess is connected to the massive amounts of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel , to Israeli theft of US technology , and to its spying on the US .
In reality , the bill is yet another perk for Israel and another way to entangle the US with Israel .
This bill stresses binational collaboration between the US and “ Middle Eastern countries , such as Israel ” in developing hydropower technology , and prioritizes international projects with countries that have “ an established presence in Israel for the promotion of trade.
” Once again , Congress seeks to line up commercial clients for Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law .
Building up Israeli companies that then compete with American companies may result in major job losses for Americans .
The irony in this piece of legislation ( and H.R.1837 and H.R.1795 – read here ) is that while Israel develops water resources on the one hand , it uses water as a weapon on the other .
In August 2018 , Israeli warplanes destroyed a water and sanitation system in Gaza – a breach of international law .
These are just a few of many incidents in which Israel has used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work under this bill includes , for example , funding for Everglades restoration , hurricane and flood preparedness , clean energy…and $ 6 million for the US-Israel Cooperative Energy Center .
This partnership has offices in California , New Jersey , and Tel Aviv .
Notably , this US-Israel collaboration is not mentioned in the legislation itself , only in a 235-page report that accompanied the bill .
There , a reader can find out about a desalination and water purification program that gives “ special consideration to drought-prone regions , and in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ East , including Israel.
” While Israel does struggle somewhat with water ( at least in part due to its own mismanagement ) , it has found a way to provide twice the minimum requirement set by the World Health Organization ( WHO ) for free to its Jewish residents – and the Jews illegally living on Palestinian land .
Meanwhile , Palestinians consume less than half that amount , at great expense .
The Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem ( ARIJ ) points out that Israel refuses completely to provide water to some of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make their own provision , at their own cost , Israel regularly destroys or confiscates the materials .
Israel forces have also been known to punitively shoot holes in Palestinian water tanks ( even during the pandemic ) .
In Gaza , water is “ scarce and mostly unfit for human use.
” S.4537 – “ Reinvigorating the Economy , Creating Opportunity for every Vocation , Employer , Retiree & Youth Act ” or the “ RECOVERY Act ” This economic recovery bill includes sections on safely returning Americans to work ; job @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids to school ; Covid cures and treatment ; and miscellaneous .
However , the legislation also slips in more money to Israel .
Under “ Covid cures and treatment , ” the bill proposes While Israel has the most advanced medical technology in the Middle East ( likely helped by the massive US aid it has received through the years ) , it does not share its bounty with the Palestinians in the territories it occupies .
Regarding the pandemic , Israel neglects the care of Palestinian prisoners ( many of whom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – including children ; has demolished a number of Palestinian Covid testing centers ; restricted pandemic-related efforts by international medical services ; carried out thousands of search-and-arrest operations , and demolished hundreds of homes , leaving Palestinian families homeless .
Everyday health risks for Palestinian include Israeli police brutality , attacks against unarmed people , raids on hospitals , and refusal to allow ambulances and medical personnel to treat Palestinians injured by Israeli soldiers .
These practices , plus the oppressive policies of occupation and blockade , have led to Palestinians ’ life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that of Israelis – yet US politicians want to collaborate with Israel on medical matters .
S.4522 – funding for the US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund This is yet another bill to funnel more money to Israel and entangle the U.S. further with this foreign country .
This bill seeks to amend the National Agricultural Research , Extension , and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to authorize appropriations for the United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund .
The amount to be allocated is ominously unspecified : “ such sums @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each fiscal year.
” This bill reports that , according to Israel , 1,360 people ( at least 25 of them Americans ) have been killed “ by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000 .
It alleges that the Palestinian Authority ’ s payment of “ salaries to terrorists…as well as to the families of deceased terrorists , is an incentive to commit acts of terror.
” ( While this is a common argument by Israel partisans , the reality is significantly different . )
The resolution calls on the international community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and reaffirms the penalties for such activity as laid out in the Taylor Force Act .
Gottheimer linked the bill to the recent divestment referendum at Columbia University ( one of the American victims , a resident of his state , graduated from Barnard , a college affiliated with Columbia ) .
Gottheimer and his resolution ignore the fact that Israel has killed more American citizens than Palestinians have ( read about some of them here and here ) ; Israelis have killed almost eight times as many Palestinians as vice versa .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ social safety net for the families of Palestinians who have been imprisoned , injured , or killed by the occupying power S.4482 – “ Strengthening Reporting of Actions Taken Against the Normalization of Relations with Israel Act of 2020 ” Introduced by Sen. Cory Booker ( D-NJ ) on 08/06/2020 ( 2 cosponsors ) ( Booker regularly does the bidding of the Israel lobby . )
The purpose of this legislation is “ to require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress an annual report regarding instances of Arab government retribution toward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relations with Israelis.
” Section 3 of the bill requires anti-normalization activities to be included in the State Department ’ s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – part of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 , which determines whether a country is eligible for aid from the US .
Since Israel ’ s founding in 1948 , it has received ( adjusting for inflation ) roughly $ 252.7 billion from the U.S. as of March 2018 – an amount that the majority of Americans consider excessive ) , in spite of its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rights ( GVHR ) – yet Congress seeks to censure not Israel , but countries that snub Israel ( read more about aid to Israel here and here ) .
Also noteworthy is that , while the US encourages Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel ( including Syria and Lebanon , which have been attacked by Israel numerous times ) , it allows Israel to attack its Palestinian neighbors , even for holding a Palestinian flag .
“ This bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence ( ODNI ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s support for proxy military forces in the Middle East…and the increased risks that this support poses to Israel and U.S. regional interests [ sic ] …It also directs the President to report to Congress a strategy to prevent Iran from expanding its power in Iraq , Syria , and Lebanon.
” The bill is part of the ongoing effort by Israel and its partisans to target Iran , which Israel seeks to damage , much as it did Iraq .
Regarding the US preoccupation with Iran , Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been named an exporter of terrorism , as reported by Amnesty International .
Israel recently signed agreements with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates , two states with which Israel has never been at war .
The normalization of relations with Arab countries gives Israel a veneer of legitimacy while giving them access to US-made weapons ( and giving the US access to Arab money ) .
The treaties , facilitated by President Trump , also give Republicans a talking point : the GOP establishment loves and nurtures its relationship with Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Sheldon Adelson ) .
This point is especially meaningful to those Evangelical Christians who know little about Israel-Palestine and have been influenced to view the welfare of Israel as a signal of the second coming of Christ .
( Notably , a number of Evangelical groups do not agree with this theology or support Israel . )
Three bills recognize the “ historic achievement ” of these agreements – which ignore the issue of justice for the Palestinians and erode hope for their future , as other countries may follow in UAE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the “ sense of the Senate ” that the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are historic achievements .
It also encourages other Arab nations to follow suit , and reaffirms “ the Senate ’ s support for a negotiated , two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
” Israeli activist Miko Peled described the treaties as an opportunity for Arab countries to get Essentially the same as S.Res.709 ( above ) , minus the reference to the two-state solution .
This House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arab nations to follow suit , and supports the ( temporary ) suspension of annexation plans by Israel .
The sponsor of this resolution , Eliot Engel , has been one of Israel ’ s staunchest allies during his three-plus decade in Congress .
As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee since 2013 , he consistently discussed legislation with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee ( AIPAC ) to make sure it was satisfactory .
Former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer Philip Giraldi commented on Engel ’ s close ties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that serving in one country ’ s legislature and working for the interests of another country amounts to treason.
” S.Res.745 and H.Res.1173 – “ honoring the life , legacy , and example of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the 25th anniversary of his death ” Introduced in Senate by Sen. Ben Cardin ( D-MD – 8 cosponsors ) and in House by Rep. Dean Philips ( D-MN-3 – 6 cosponsors ) While Rabin received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize ( along with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat ) for efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Jacobin Magazine details some of his less-known actions – which include sending Palestinians on a “ death march , ” collaborating with apartheid South Africa , and calling for a policy of “ bone-breaking ” for Palestinian protesters .
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( “ AOC ” ) , who was slated to participate in an event commemorating Rabin , withdrew after learning that the Prime Minister ’ s politics have been whitewashed .
Backlash against her decision was fierce , and exemplifies the panic that ensues , as Yousef Munayyer pointed out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ a narrative that erases Palestinians.
” The purpose of this legislation is to amend the National Organ Transplant Act to allow for pilot programs promoting organ donation .
In addition to citing statistics showing how economical organ transplants are , the bill singles out Israel for the “ sweeping changes ” it made to its national organ donation program in 2010 , and as a result saw organ donation approximately triple over a 10-year period .
According to the International Registry in Organ Donation and Transplantation , Israel ranked only near the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while Spain consistently came in near or at the top of the list .
In fact , the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research highlights Spain ’ s program , considered to be the world ’ s “ gold standard.
” The new Israeli program grew out of an attempt to address Israel ’ s reputation as a favorite destination for illegal organ trafficking .
When bans were put in place , Israel experienced a dramatic drop in organ donations – a problem that initiated the “ sweeping changes ” that this bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ service and sacrifice of members of the United States Armed Forces , veterans , prisoners of war , and Gold Star Families.
” This resolution includes this clause , unrelated to the service and sacrifices of US Armed Forces : The purpose of this bill is “ to prohibit United States Government recognition of the Israeli Government ’ s claim of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank…No Federal department or agency may take any action or extend any assistance in a manner that extends or implies United States recognition of such a claim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law or customary international law.
” In fact , the international community – and even many Israelis , along with some staunch Israel partisans who feel this is damaging to Israel – oppose the annexation of West Bank land .
Such an action is illegal , and the US has opposed annexation until the Trump administration .
In 2019 , Trump reversed American policy by green-lighting Israel ’ s claim of sovereignty over the Golan Heights .
Kathryn Shihadah is staff writer for If Americans Knew .
She also writes for MintPress News @ @ @ @ @ @

Renegade Editor’s Note: The featured image was chosen by yours truly 🙂
Congress members, perhaps eager for campaign donations from wealthy pro-Israel donors, continue finding creative new legislation to slip Israel even more US tax money on top of the $10 million per day it already receives. Welcome to the latest batch of bills designed to keep Israel front and center – bringing the total pieces of pro-Israel legislation for this session of Congress to NINETY.
By Kathryn Shihadah
In spite of the pandemic, in spite of the election and the Supreme Court vacancy, pro-Israel Congress members continue to spend time pushing their Israel agenda. Democrats who want to wait on the Supreme Court appointment till the new government comes in are rushing to add one more pro-Israel bill or resolution. Members of the House of Representatives, each representing a small local population, are pulling together obscure, fiction-based narratives to rationalize more legislation.
It is important to remember that these bills in support of Israel are being introduced despite Israel’s long record of human rights violations, of racism against a sizable portion of its population, and of damage to the U.S.
Below are the most recent bills before Congress, introduced since our last two articles. Our first report itemized fifty pieces of legislation that were brought up in the first year of this Congressional session, 2019; the second covered roughly the first half of 2020.
Below are those introduced since June – at the end of the list is the single new piece of legislation in support of justice for Palestinians, introduced by Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum.
7 bills for more weapons to Israel
S.4474 – “To amend the Arms Export Control Act to prohibit the export of certain unmanned aircraft systems”
Introduced by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on 08/06/2020 (5 cosponsors)
This legislation seeks to prohibit the export of certain unmanned aircraft systems and related equipment – Israel is exempt from this ban (as are NATO countries, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea).
The Arms Export Control Act was designed to require that recipients of US armaments use them only for legitimate self-defense, and not in such a way as to “increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict.”
International law does not support Israel’s “self-defense” argument for its many large and small incursions into Gaza – the incursions contributed to escalations of conflict.
S.4049 – “National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2021”
Introduced 6/24 by Inhofe (R-OK) on 06/23/2020 (0 cosponsors)
The text of this bill includes all of the usual Israel-related expenses, and proposes furthering the US-Israel “defense innovation partnership” even more by creating an ongoing Working Group to “research, develop, procure, and field weapons systems and military capabilities as quickly and economically as possible.”
An amendment to this legislation, proposed by fourteen Democratic senators, seeks to prohibit the use of US funding by Israel to defend annexed parts of the West Bank.
Another amendment, S.A.1895, was slipped into the bill without debate, and without making the text available to American voters: the amendment seeks to codify into law the US annual aid to Israel (currently $3.8 billion) using wording that would “prevent any future Administration or Congress from having the ability to use that aid as leverage” (that is, it would be impossible to make aid Israel conditional), and to ensure that the amount of aid could only go up, never down.
H.R.8494 – ‘‘Guaranteeing Israel’s QME (Qualitative Military Edge) Act of 2020’’
Introduced by Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) on 10/01/2020 (17 cosponsors)
This legislation calls on the President to “seek to consult with appropriate officials of the Government of Israel” before selling any major defense articles to Middle East countries, for the purpose of preserving Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME).
The bill, introduced in response to Trump’s plan to sell F-35s to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is described by The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) as “an effective Israeli veto on US arms sales to the Middle East.”
S.Res.669 – to recommend that the Department of Defense should expedite delivery of precision-guided munitions to Israel
Introduced by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) on 08/06/2020 (0 cosponsors)
“This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that (1) regularized purchases of precision-guided munitions by Israel, coordinated with the U.S. Air Force annual purchase of precision-guided munitions, would enhance the security of the United States and Israel; and (2) the Department of Defense should take measures to expedite deliveries of precision-guided munitions to Israel.”
Israel hosts a $1 billion stockpile of American weapons containing missiles, armored vehicles, and ammunition (a second stockpile is located in South Korea) – enabling Israel to replenish its supplies quickly if “necessary.”
In the summer of 2014, Israel burned through its arsenal so quickly in its attack on Gaza, that it requested and received permission through military channels to access the stockpile, bypassing standard White House approval.
Amnesty International was among the groups calling on the US to stop furnishing weapons in 2014:
The US government is adding fuel to the fire by continuing its supply of the type of arms being used by Israel’s armed forces to violate human rights. The US government must accept that by repeatedly shipping and paying for such arms on this scale they are exacerbating and further enabling grave abuses to be committed against civilians during the conflict in Gaza.
In response to the sleight, the Obama administration added an official approval process to prevent Israeli PM Netanyahu from going behind his back again.
Israel is in its third ten-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the US – the current agreement set $3.8 billion as the minimum amount of military aid to Israel per year till 2028, and allows for more for in various “joint programs” (see below).
S.Res. 640 – (exactly same wording as S.Res.669)
Introduced by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) on 07/01/2020) (0 cosponsors)
H.R.7617 – Appropriations for Department of Defense, FY ending Sept 30, 2021
Introduced by Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-IN-1) on 07/16/2020 (0 cosponsors)
The Israel section of this legislation earmarks $500 million in Israeli Cooperative Programs missile defense funding.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that since 1948, the US has given Israel $6.9 billion for missile defense (over $1.5 billion for Iron Dome, Israel’s short-range missile defense system) – in addition to over $100 billion in military aid and $34 billion in economic aid (in current, non-inflation adjusted dollars).
However, when the US Army bought two Iron Dome systems from Israel, Israel refused to furnish necessary proprietary information, preventing integration of the apparatus with existing American technologies.
H.R.7608 – Department of State appropriations for FY ending Sept 30, 2021
Introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY-17) on 07/13/2020 (0 cosponsors)
This legislation advances a policy whereby at least $3.3 billion of the DoS budget would be “available for grants only for Israel.”
It also calls for an end to the Arab League boycott of Israel and American firms that have ties with Israel, and normalized relations with Israel – without addressing the Arab League’s grievance against Israel (namely, injustice against the Palestinians).
[To Learn more about the Israel lobby go here.]
The section of the bill on “Palestinian Statehood” would require that any Palestinian State be eligible for US aid only if it has, among other things, “demonstrated a firm commitment to peaceful coexistence with the State of Israel.”
As “peaceful coexistence” is defined by Israel and the US, this commitment would involve Palestinians giving up internationally recognized rights such as the right of return, the right to a decent quality of life, the right to justice, equality, and self-determination.
Funding would also be prohibited if Palestinians obtain member status in the United Nations without Israel’s permission, or ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel for “alleged crimes against Palestinians.”
5 pieces of legislation on US collaboration with Israel
Continuing the trend of Israeli-US collaboration (for example, read about S.3722 and H.R.6829 here, and S.Res.153 and H.Res.310 here), Congress is considering four newer bills that earmark funds for the two countries to partner on various projects. These so-called “joint programs” effectively funnel money and/or material to Israel, condition Americans to see Israel as a “partner,” and serve as a reminder of Israel’s omnipresence in Washington.
It is common knowledge for those aware of the issue, that Israel spies aggressively on the US, has refused to share privileged information with us, and has attempted to destroy a Navy ship belonging to the US. Yet, Israel partisans continue to claim that Israel is “an ally.”
H.R.7148 – “US-Israel Military Capability Act of 2020”
Introduced by Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) on 6/11/2020 (6 cosponsors)
This bill asserts that collaboration with Israel is necessary in order to maintain military supremacy over China – which is, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, “improving their military very, very rapidly in space, air, cyber, maritime, land domains, etc.”
The sponsors of this legislation suggest that Israel is the natural choice to partner with because of its “innovative and agile defense technology sector”; however they do not take into account Israel’s testing of new weapons on Palestinians before marketing them around the world, including to countries that perpetrate human rights abuses. The bill also fails to take into account that Israel’s alleged prowess is connected to the massive amounts of US money that has been sent to Israel, to Israeli theft of US technology, and to its spying on the US.
In reality, the bill is yet another perk for Israel and another way to entangle the US with Israel.
S.4228 – “Water-Energy Technology Demonstration and Deployment Act”
Introduced by Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) on 07/20/2020 (0 cosponsors)
This bill stresses binational collaboration between the US and “Middle Eastern countries, such as Israel” in developing hydropower technology, and prioritizes international projects with countries that have “an established presence in Israel for the promotion of trade.”
Once again, Congress seeks to line up commercial clients for Israel – a country in breach of international law. Building up Israeli companies that then compete with American companies may result in major job losses for Americans.
The irony in this piece of legislation (and H.R.1837 and H.R.1795 – read here) is that while Israel develops water resources on the one hand, it uses water as a weapon on the other.
If Americans Knew reported,
[Israel] is perpetrating a water catastrophe in the Palestinian territories. For example, Israel forbids Palestinians from digging wells or running water pipes on their own land (although the Israeli government provides running water to illegal settlements); instead, Israel sells water to Palestinians – at some of the highest prices in the world.
In August 2018, Israeli warplanes destroyed a water and sanitation system in Gaza – a breach of international law. These are just a few of many incidents in which Israel has used water as a weapon.
H.R.7613 – “Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, FY 2021”
Introduced 07/15/2020 by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9) on 07/15/2020 (0 cosponsors)
The planned work under this bill includes, for example, funding for Everglades restoration, hurricane and flood preparedness, clean energy…and $6 million for the US-Israel Cooperative Energy Center. This partnership has offices in California, New Jersey, and Tel Aviv.
Notably, this US-Israel collaboration is not mentioned in the legislation itself, only in a 235-page report that accompanied the bill. There, a reader can find out about a desalination and water purification program that gives “special consideration to drought-prone regions, and in collaboration with possible partners in the Middle East, including Israel.”
While Israel does struggle somewhat with water (at least in part due to its own mismanagement), it has found a way to provide twice the minimum requirement set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for free to its Jewish residents – and the Jews illegally living on Palestinian land. Meanwhile, Palestinians consume less than half that amount, at great expense.
The Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) points out that
As of 2013, Israel’s 600,000 illegal settlers collectively used six times more water than the three million Palestinians in the West Bank for domestic use (and amenities like swimming pools and lawns).
Israel refuses completely to provide water to some of the Palestinians under occupation; when they make their own provision, at their own cost, Israel regularly destroys or confiscates the materials.
Israel forces have also been known to punitively shoot holes in Palestinian water tanks (even during the pandemic).
In Gaza, water is “scarce and mostly unfit for human use.”
S.4537 – “Reinvigorating the Economy, Creating Opportunity for every Vocation, Employer, Retiree & Youth Act ” or the “RECOVERY Act”
Introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on 09/08/2020 (0 cosponsors)
This economic recovery bill includes sections on safely returning Americans to work; job creation; retirement security; safely returning kids to school; Covid cures and treatment; and miscellaneous.
However, the legislation also slips in more money to Israel.
Under “Covid cures and treatment,” the bill proposes
$4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2023 for a bilateral cooperative program with the Government of Israel…with an emphasis on collaboratively advancing the use of technology, personalized medicine, and data in relation to COVID–19.
While Israel has the most advanced medical technology in the Middle East (likely helped by the massive US aid it has received through the years), it does not share its bounty with the Palestinians in the territories it occupies.
Regarding the pandemic, Israel neglects the care of Palestinian prisoners (many of whom are illegally held in administrative detention) – including children; has demolished a number of Palestinian Covid testing centers; restricted pandemic-related efforts by international medical services; carried out thousands of search-and-arrest operations, and demolished hundreds of homes, leaving Palestinian families homeless.
Everyday health risks for Palestinian include Israeli police brutality, attacks against unarmed people, raids on hospitals, and refusal to allow ambulances and medical personnel to treat Palestinians injured by Israeli soldiers.
These practices, plus the oppressive policies of occupation and blockade, have led to Palestinians’ life expectancy at almost nine years shorter than that of Israelis – yet US politicians want to collaborate with Israel on medical matters.
S.4522 – funding for the US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund
Introduced by Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) on 08/11/20 (1 cosponsor)
This is yet another bill to funnel more money to Israel and entangle the U.S. further with this foreign country.
This bill seeks to amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to authorize appropriations for the United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund. The amount to be allocated is ominously unspecified: “such sums as are necessary to carry out activities…for each fiscal year.”
3 bills demonizing Israel’s enemies
H.Res.1131 – “Resolution to Stop Rewarding Terrorists”
Introduced by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-5) on 09/21/2020 (4 cosponsors)
This bill reports that, according to Israel, 1,360 people (at least 25 of them Americans) have been killed “by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000. It alleges that the Palestinian Authority’s payment of “salaries to terrorists…as well as to the families of deceased terrorists, is an incentive to commit acts of terror.” (While this is a common argument by Israel partisans, the reality is significantly different.)
The resolution calls on the international community to condemn Palestinian Authority payments to terrorists and reaffirms the penalties for such activity as laid out in the Taylor Force Act.
Gottheimer linked the bill to the recent divestment referendum at Columbia University (one of the American victims, a resident of his state, graduated from Barnard, a college affiliated with Columbia).
Gottheimer and his resolution ignore the fact that Israel has killed more American citizens than Palestinians have (read about some of them here and here); Israelis have killed almost eight times as many Palestinians as vice versa.
If Americans Knew has stressed that a social safety net for the families of Palestinians who have been imprisoned, injured, or killed by the occupying power
is not an endorsement of any act of terrorism but a humane, compassionate act…It must also be said that the shutdown of this social program…may lead to yet more resentment and extremism.
S.4482 – “Strengthening Reporting of Actions Taken Against the Normalization of Relations with Israel Act of 2020”
Introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) on 08/06/2020 (2 cosponsors) (Booker regularly does the bidding of the Israel lobby.)
The purpose of this legislation is “to require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress an annual report regarding instances of Arab government retribution toward citizens and residents who engage in people-to-people relations with Israelis.”
Section 3 of the bill requires anti-normalization activities to be included in the State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – part of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which determines whether a country is eligible for aid from the US.
Since Israel’s founding in 1948, it has received (adjusting for inflation) roughly $252.7 billion from the U.S. as of March 2018 – an amount that the majority of Americans consider excessive), in spite of its consistent, documented Gross Violations of Human Rights (GVHR) – yet Congress seeks to censure not Israel, but countries that snub Israel (read more about aid to Israel here and here).
Also noteworthy is that, while the US encourages Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel (including Syria and Lebanon, which have been attacked by Israel numerous times), it allows Israel to attack its Palestinian neighbors, even for holding a Palestinian flag.
H.R.7850 – “National Intelligence Estimate on Iranian Proxy Forces Act”
Introduced by Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) on 07/29/2020 (9 cosponsors)
“This bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to produce an assessment of Iran’s support for proxy military forces in the Middle East…and the increased risks that this support poses to Israel and U.S. regional interests [sic]…It also directs the President to report to Congress a strategy to prevent Iran from expanding its power in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.”
The bill is part of the ongoing effort by Israel and its partisans to target Iran, which Israel seeks to damage, much as it did Iraq.
Regarding the US preoccupation with Iran, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) points out:
[W]hen one examines the State Department’s rationale for designating Iran as the “world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism,” it should be clear that Iran is considered so because it supports armed resistance groups opposing the US [support for] Israel’s illegal occupation of Middle Eastern territories. If Iran is a “state sponsor of terrorism” because it provides support to “Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza,” then does the US providing cash, weapons and surveillance for Israel’s state terrorism against Palestinians qualify the US as a “state sponsor of terrorism”? According to B’Tselem’s figures from 2000 all the way through the end of 2019, while Palestinian militants have killed a total of 301 Israeli civilians, Israeli security forces have killed 5,279 Palestinians who did not take part in hostilities, or were killed during the course of targeted killings (which are illegal under international law)… Iran is considered a state sponsor of terrorism even though Iranian/Shiite terrorism “is not even a category in U.S. counterterrorism reporting.” On the other hand, Sunni terrorism (behind the 9/11 attacks, ISIS, and al Qaeda) is on the list – but Saudi Arabia, a staunchly Sunni country, is not considered a state sponsor of terror.
Israel has been named an exporter of terrorism, as reported by Amnesty International.
3 pieces of legislation applauding normalization with Israel
Israel recently signed agreements with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, two states with which Israel has never been at war. The normalization of relations with Arab countries gives Israel a veneer of legitimacy while giving them access to US-made weapons (and giving the US access to Arab money).
The treaties, facilitated by President Trump, also give Republicans a talking point: the GOP establishment loves and nurtures its relationship with Israel (or at least from campaign donors like Sheldon Adelson).
This point is especially meaningful to those Evangelical Christians who know little about Israel-Palestine and have been influenced to view the welfare of Israel as a signal of the second coming of Christ. (Notably, a number of Evangelical groups do not agree with this theology or support Israel.)
Three bills recognize the “historic achievement” of these agreements – which ignore the issue of justice for the Palestinians and erode hope for their future, as other countries may follow in UAE and Bahraini footsteps.
Introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on 09/17/2020 (72 cosponsors)
This resolution expresses the “sense of the Senate” that the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are historic achievements.
It also encourages other Arab nations to follow suit, and reaffirms “the Senate’s support for a negotiated, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Sen. Graham commented,
What incredible times we are living in. These agreements set the Middle East on a new course of cooperation and economic integration…Going forward the biggest winners will be those who pursue peaceful coexistence in the Middle East. The prospects of a sustainable peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians just became more real.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) added (without evidence);
If Biden wins in November and appoints Bernie Sanders as Secretary of State, we’ll see open hostility toward our friend and ally Israel.
(Joe Biden is a staunch supporter of Israel; Bernie Sanders has lived on an Israeli kibbutz and has taken positions on both sides of the issue.)
Israeli activist Miko Peled described the treaties as an opportunity for Arab countries to get
access to much desired U.S.-made weapons and other perks such as security and economic cooperation…Israel has successfully taken the Palestinian issue off the world stage. Regardless of how often Israel attacks Gaza or how viciously it attacks, regardless of how many Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons and how severe the conditions in which Palestinians live, Israel succeeded in getting the world to look the other way.
Introduced by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) on 09/23/2020 (0 cosponsors)
Essentially the same as S.Res.709 (above), minus the reference to the two-state solution.
Introduced by Rep. Eliot Engel (N-NY-16) on 09/15/2020 (259 cosponsors)
This House resolution applauds the treaties, encourages other Arab nations to follow suit, and supports the (temporary) suspension of annexation plans by Israel.
The sponsor of this resolution, Eliot Engel, has been one of Israel’s staunchest allies during his three-plus decade in Congress. As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee since 2013, he consistently discussed legislation with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to make sure it was satisfactory.
Former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer Philip Giraldi commented on Engel’s close ties with AIPAC, “Some might suggest that serving in one country’s legislature and working for the interests of another country amounts to treason.”
4 pieces of miscellaneous pro-Israel legislation
S.Res.745 and H.Res.1173 – “honoring the life, legacy, and example of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the 25th anniversary of his death”
Introduced in Senate by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD – 8 cosponsors) and in House by Rep. Dean Philips (D-MN-3 – 6 cosponsors)
While Rabin received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize (along with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat) for efforts to create peace in the Middle East, Jacobin Magazine details some of his less-known actions – which include sending Palestinians on a “death march,” collaborating with apartheid South Africa, and calling for a policy of “bone-breaking” for Palestinian protesters.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (“AOC”), who was slated to participate in an event commemorating Rabin, withdrew after learning that the Prime Minister’s politics have been whitewashed.
Backlash against her decision was fierce, and exemplifies the panic that ensues, as Yousef Munayyer pointed out, when pro-Israel voices lose control of “a narrative that erases Palestinians.”
H.R.7900 – “Organ Donation Clarification Act of 2020”
Introduced by Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA-8) on 07/31/2020 (10 cosponsors)
The purpose of this legislation is to amend the National Organ Transplant Act to allow for pilot programs promoting organ donation.
In addition to citing statistics showing how economical organ transplants are, the bill singles out Israel for the “sweeping changes” it made to its national organ donation program in 2010, and as a result saw organ donation approximately triple over a 10-year period.
According to the International Registry in Organ Donation and Transplantation, Israel ranked only near the middle in most measures in 2019, while Spain consistently came in near or at the top of the list.
In fact, the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research highlights Spain’s program, considered to be the world’s “gold standard.”
The new Israeli program grew out of an attempt to address Israel’s reputation as a favorite destination for illegal organ trafficking. When bans were put in place, Israel experienced a dramatic drop in organ donations – a problem that initiated the “sweeping changes” that this bill touts.
S.Res.686 – “Honoring the service and sacrifice of members of the United States Armed Forces, veterans, prisoners of war, and Gold Star Families.”
Introduced by Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) on 09/09/2020 (o cosponsors)
This resolution includes this clause, unrelated to the service and sacrifices of US Armed Forces:
Whereas the President was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his successful efforts to create peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates…
1 bill: Palestinian rights recognized
Introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-4) on 08/14/2020 (11 cosponsors)
The purpose of this bill is “to prohibit United States Government recognition of the Israeli Government’s claim of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank…No Federal department or agency may take any action or extend any assistance in a manner that extends or implies United States recognition of such a claim of sovereignty in violation of international humanitarian law or customary international law.”
In fact, the international community – and even many Israelis, along with some staunch Israel partisans who feel this is damaging to Israel – oppose the annexation of West Bank land.
Such an action is illegal, and the US has opposed annexation until the Trump administration. In 2019, Trump reversed American policy by green-lighting Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
(To read about the single other piece of legislation in this congressional session supporting Palestinian rights – Rep. Betty McCollum’s H.R.2407 – go here.)
Kathryn Shihadah is staff writer for If Americans Knew. She also writes for MintPress News and blogs at Palestine Home.
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