A letter being <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2020/06/four-progressive-congresswomen-circulate-letter-threatening-to-condition-aid-to-israel-over-annexation/">circulated</a> in the House of Representatives, by four members of Congress, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), calls for the Israeli government to stop all considerations regarding the “annexation” of the Jordan Valley.
The letter itself has gained significant momentum as Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), André Carson (D-IN), Nydia Velázquez (D-PR), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Jesús Garcia (D-IL), and Danny Davis (D-IL), as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/30/ocasio-cortez-aipac-israel-aid-annexation-345287">added their signatures</a>.
Whether you support or condemn Israel’s decision to extend sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, there are 4 things you should know about the letter.
First, the letter repeatedly and erroneously uses the term: Annexation. 
The term <a href="https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-vows-to-annex-all-settlements-after-election-starting-with-jordan-valley/">annexation</a> refers to a state’s decision to impose its legal authority over a territory that was forcibly acquired from another state with the use of force or aggression. As International Human Rights Lawyer, Arsen Ostrovsky and Colonel Richard Kemp <a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/annexation-vs-sovereignty-words-matter/">note</a>:
<blockquote>“First, all apply to territory acquired by force or in an offensive war. The Six-Day War, in which Israel was compelled to defend itself from neighboring Arab armies seeking the Jewish state’s destruction, was defensive. Second, in 1967, there was no ‘state of Palestine,’ nor does such an entity exist today under international law.”</blockquote>
With a total disregard for international law, the letter’s vocabulary not only, and wrongly, insinuates that history witnessed the existence of a sovereign ‘Palestine,” but it ignores Israel’s indigenous and legal claims to the territory as established by the 1920 San Remo <a href="https://www.cfr.org/israel/san-remo-resolution/p15248">Resolution</a>.
Secondly, the letter, dubiously, <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2020/06/four-progressive-congresswomen-circulate-letter-threatening-to-condition-aid-to-israel-over-annexation/">speculates</a> that annexing parts of the West Bank will “perpetuate” and “entrench” human rights violations against Palestinians.
The signatories of this letter might benefit from carrying out a comparative analysis, in regard to standards of living, of Palestinians pre-1967 and Palestinians post-1967.
According to Ephraim Karsh’s, Director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, and author of Arafat’s War, explains:
<blockquote>“The number of Palestinians working in Israel rose from zero in 1967 to 66,000 in 1975 and 109,000 by 1986, accounting for 35 percent of the employed population of the West Bank and 45 percent in Gaza.”</blockquote>
Karsh also adds:
<blockquote>“By 1986, 92.8 percent of the population in the West Bank and Gaza had electricity around the clock, as compared to 20.5 percent in 1967; 85 percent had running water in dwellings, as compared to 16 percent in 1967; 84 percent had electric gas ranges for cooking, as compared to 4 percent in 1967&#8230;”</blockquote>
And in regards to Palestinian access to education, Karsh details:
<blockquote>“At the onset of the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, not a single university existed in these territories. By the early 1990s, there were seven such institutions, boasting some 16,500 students as compared with six in Israel or seven in the Irish Republic.”</blockquote>
The statement on this letter ignores an indisputable truth – Israel has done more for the Palestinian people than their own leadership has. If the signatories truly cared about human rights violations against Palestinians, they would note that the Palestinian leadership regards homosexuality and the sale of property to Jews as crimes; it continues to indoctrinate children with antisemitism and senseless hatred; it has invested millions of dollars in foreign aid to <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/where-does-the-palestinian-aid-money-go">fund</a> terrorist activities rather than social welfare programs, and it has repeatedly turned down generous offers for peace that would have granted the Palestinian people independence.
Thirdly, the letter threatens to “pursue conditions” on the $3.8 billion in US military funding to Israel if the Israeli government moves forward with “annexing” Jordan Valley. Such a move could have devastating impacts for Israelis, Palestinians, and American citizens.
A significant portion of the $3.8 billion received by Israel for military funding is <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/09/14/fact-sheet-memorandum-understanding-reached-israel">allocated</a> for defensive weapons systems such as the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow-3. If Israel were unable to defend her skies from the thousands of indiscriminate rockets fired from Hamas-held Gaza, it would possibly be forced to adopt more offensive tactics to protect her citizens. Such tactics could result in the tragic loss of Palestinian and Israeli civilian lives.
Moreover, the cut in funding would harm Americans during a devastating pandemic. According to the <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/israel-gives-much-more-to-the-u-s-economy-than-you-imagined/">US Department of Commerce</a>, in between 2009-2014, 254,562 jobs were directly supported by the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement. Every state in the US enjoys its own economic ties with the State of Israel. In 2014, at the very <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/israel-gives-much-more-to-the-u-s-economy-than-you-imagined/">lowest</a>, is Alaska which accumulated nearly $300,000 in trade with Israel. In the same year and at its <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/israel-gives-much-more-to-the-u-s-economy-than-you-imagined/">highest</a>, is New York, which accumulated $6.3 billion in trade with Israel. The impacts of reducing aid to Israel would only add to the hardships that many American families are already experiencing.
Lastly, the letter makes the claim that under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, “annexation” is illegal, such a move would constitute a violation of international law by Israel.
To set the record straight on the letter&#8217;s faulty nomenclature, Israel does not propose annexing any territory; rather it is considering extending sovereignty over the Jordan Valley. It appears that the signatories of this letter are unfamiliar with the uti possidetis iuris doctrine. Put aptly, when new countries emerge from old ones, or from colonial empires, the last official international borders constitute the new boundary lines.
Professor Eugene Kontorovich, of the Antonin Scalia School of Law, <a href="https://en.kohelet.org.il/publication/crimea-international-law-and-the-west-bank?fbclid=IwAR0nNtEkTXFprRQQaXXOwHaju4nlCuD_q2l-QZ8rVfS_kghgETaNnpn_c2U">explains</a> how this doctrine applies in Israel&#8217;s case:
<blockquote>“In 1922, the League of Nations established a new “country” to serve as the Jewish national home. This was the Mandate for Palestine. Under certain provisions of the Mandate, Palestine was partitioned at the Jordan River to create the country of Transjordan (now called Jordan) on its eastern bank. After that, the international frontiers of Mandatory Palestine ran from the river to the sea. The League of Nations Mandate for Palestine provides the legal basis not only for Israel’s borders, but for those of Jordan as well, and indeed for Jordan’s entire existence.”</blockquote>
Whether you support Israel’s decision to extend sovereignty or not, it is imperative to recognize the fallacies of this letter. Not only do the signatories wrongly accuse Israel of, potentially, violating international law, but it paints a misleading image to the majority of Americans who remain committed to the US-Israel alliance.
Yoni Michanie is a Middle East analyst, Israel advocate, and former IDF Paratrooper. He can be reached on Twitter, @<a href="http://twitter.com/yonimichanie">YoniMichanie</a>.

House Votes On Stimulus Package To Counter Coronavirus Economic Impacts

MICHANIE: Four Things To Know About Ocasio-Cortez’s Letter Placing Conditions On Aid To Israel

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Israel

I recognized that look in their eyes. It was the same look I received several times throughout my service with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Judea and Samaria. A look that showed the trauma of years of anti-Semitic indoctrination. When I was a soldier, I understood that look. After all, these Palestinian teens in Judea and Samaria had been, throughout their entire lives, led to believe that Jews were European colonialists who had no connection to the land and had orchestrated the displacement of the Palestinian people in 1948. I could at least understand the logic behind that look.
Receiving it by nearly one hundred students in the University of Florida on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/958292104537679/">November 19th</a> completely disoriented me. A similar look, with the only difference being that it was driven by the adoption of false information about the conflict and not necessarily blatant anti-Semitism.
These students did not know me. They did not know my story, and they were definitely not interested in dialogue. Had they been interested in a discussion filled with opportunities to challenge my premises, perhaps they would have stayed and listen to my ultimate message:
We need to humanize Palestinians. The way we will humanize Palestinians is by making a very clear distinction between the people and the leadership. Then we can hold the leadership accountable for repressing its own population for decades and refusing to abandon the rejectionist attitudes towards peace with a Jewish state. An attitude that, if abandoned, could have granted the Palestinian people a state as far back as 1937 with the <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-peel-commission">Peel Commission</a>. That is what my presentation, “Why There is No Palestinian State,” sought to discuss.
As the majority of students participated in the protest and walked out of the room, nearly thirty students stayed behind, eager to find out more. Among the students who stayed were two reporters for the school’s newspaper, The Independent Alligator, and I rejoiced. I thought perhaps those who decided to walk out of the room because the content of the presentation would challenge their preconceived notions would discover that my intentions were to use objective historical truths to engage in meaningful dialogue.
The protestors decided to hold a vigil for Palestinians who had died in Gaza after Israeli air attacks during armed escalation that was recently ended by a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Had the protestors stayed for the Q&amp;A session, they would have learned about how civilians in Gaza are used as human shields. They would have learned that Israeli airstrikes only served as a form of retaliation against a terrorist organization that was targeting Israeli civilians indiscriminately with a barrage of over 350 <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-hits-islamic-jihad-launchpads-as-over-200-rockets-fired-into-israel/">rockets</a>.
But the role of the Palestinian leadership as an obstacle to peace is an inconvenient truth.
I offered the reporters a full interview after my speaking engagement. I answered all their questions with the outmost transparency; after all, they were professional enough to stay throughout my entire presentation and listen to what I had come to say. I was questioned about my experience in the army and the message I sought to leave the audience with my presentation. After a long night, I returned to my hotel and woke up early the next morning to see the article: “Hundreds protest Israel Defense Forces speaker at Little Hall Tuesday night,” <a href="https://www.alligator.org/news/hundreds-protest-israel-defense-forces-speaker-at-little-hall-tuesday/article_c8698c78-0b4a-11ea-92d7-e7720dcad3b9.html">published</a>. The title, blatantly inaccurate, set the tone for a piece of writing that violated basic journalistic ethical norms. Not only were my quotes largely ignored or cut in half, but the article was dedicated to quoting the students who decided to storm out of the room without hearing a word out of my mouth.
Twelve thousand dollars. That is the average amount paid by students at the University of Florida for <a href="https://www.ufl.edu/">tuition</a> after financial aid is applied. Nearing $50,000 per bachelor’s degree, one has to wonder — what type of education are the students who walked out interested in receiving? Do they want to remain in a social bubble that will continue to serve as an echo chamber for all their preconceived notions — even if they are erroneous?
More importantly, did the newspaper achieve its purpose of shedding light unto a story or did it perpetuate darkness and ignorance by refusing to publish the content of the presentation they had come to hear? The authors of this horrendous article not only failed to uphold journalistic ethics, but they also failed their own student body.
Towards the end of my interview with The Independent Alligator, I was asked:
“What message would you like to give to all those students who walked out in the protest?”
Despite the clear attempts to silence my message, I will answer that question now.
My message to the nearly one hundred students — not hundreds, as it was inaccurately described by the paper — who walked out is simple:
If you are planning to go into debt for at least five to ten years after you complete your undergraduate education, at least have the courage to challenge your own positions. Your conviction was not proven by your decision to preemptively exit the room before I began speaking; rather, it would have been proven if your positions would have remained the same after hearing everything I came to say.
I would hope that the school’s administration might consider the negative implications of this protest and take this as an opportunity to encourage its students to accept the principal factor guiding all of academia: Open-mindedness.
&nbsp;
<a style="font-style: italic;" href="https://yonimichanie.org">Yoni Michanie</a> is a former IDF Paratrooper and has a MA in Diplomacy and International Security from IDC Hertzeliya. He is an Israel advocate, public speaker, Middle East analyst, and is campus advisor and strategic planner for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).

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Yoni Michanie

MICHANIE: Four Things To Know About Ocasio-Cortez’s Letter Placing Conditions On Aid To Israel

MICHANIE: I Was Just Protested At The University Of Florida For Being A Zionist