Scoop: Jewish Democrats rebuke GOP bill to expel Palestinians
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Rep. Greg Landmsan. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.
A pair of Jewish House Democrats is introducing a resolution on Tuesday condemning a Republican bill to expel Palestinians from the U.S., Axios has learned.
Why it matters: While lawmakers often condemn or censure each other for controversial rhetoric, it's rare for legislation to spark a formal rebuke.
Driving the news: The two-page resolution, a copy of which was first shared with Axios, is being introduced by Reps. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), both of whom are Jewish and steadfastly pro-Israel.
- The GOP bill, introduced earlier this month by Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) with 10 Republican co-sponsors, would ban or revoke visas, refugee status and asylum for Palestinian Authority passport holders dating back to Oct 1, shortly before the Hamas attack on Israel.
- The resolution says the GOP bill “dangerously conflates Palestinians with Hamas” and “is un-American, bigoted, and is designed to inflame tensions which could result in violence.”
What they’re saying: "They're trying to expel an entire community of people from the United States," Landsman said in a statement. "We need these folks to pull back on this dangerous rhetoric and to stop adding fuel to this fire."
- Landsman said the proposal "is not helping the Israelis, it's certainly not helping the Palestinians, it's absolutely undercutting our role in pursuing peace and stability in the region and here at home."
- "Calls to expel Palestinians from the United States are racist, xenophobic and have no place in the government of the United States," Goldman said.
The other side: Zinke told Axios in a statement that the bill is "about the fact that The Biden Administration is completely incapable of vetting anyone coming in to our country."
- "Democrats are so desperate to distract from Biden's foreign policy failures that they're trying to start identity and culture wars while Biden's weak leadership has the world in full scale ground wars on multiple fronts."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Rep. Ryan Zinke.
