Congress will weigh in on murder of Israeli youths
Al-Monitor
By Julian Pecquet
Thursday, July 3, 2014

Congress is all but certain to respond to the murder of three Israeli teenagers when it returns from its weeklong July 4 recess next week

Neither the House nor the Senate have yet passed their fiscal year 2015 spending bills for State and Foreign Operations, giving outraged lawmakers an ideal vehicle to place further restrictions on aid to the Palestinians. The chairman and top Democrat on the House panel on the Middle East and North Africa — Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Ted Deutch, D-Fla. — have demanded that the Palestinian Authority break up its unity government with Hamas if the group is found responsible.

“If it is determined that Hamas is behind this horrific tragedy, Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] must immediately break up the unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization,” the two lawmakers, who were on a congressional delegation to the region and attended the three teenagers’ funeral, said in a statement. Ros-Lehtinen also condemned the “revenge killing of Palestinian youth” in a tweet.

Meanwhile in the Senate, likely 2016 presidential candidate Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced in a National Review op-ed that he would again try to get his bill to cut off Palestinian aid through the Senate if no one objects.

The raging sectarian conflict in Iraq continues to consume Congress, with the Senate Armed Services Committee holding a closed briefing July 8 on the situation there and in Afghanistan with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey.

And critics of the nuclear deal with Iran are pondering a last ditch response to any agreement or extension that the Barack Obama administration may reach by the July 20 deadline, which would leave lawmakers with just days before their monthlong summer recess. Already, a hawkish proposal linking sanctions relief to an end to terrorist activities — a topic that hasn’t been part of the negotiations — is floating on Capitol Hill, Foreign Policy reported last week.

On July 8, the House votes on legislation to reauthorize the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. The lower chamber will also vote on airport preclearance legislation that originally sought to undo a deal with Abu Dhabi, as Al-Monitor reported in May.

The House Foreign Affairs panel, with jurisdiction over human rights, on July 10 will examine “Human Rights Vetting” in Nigeria and beyond, with possible ramifications for aid to Egypt and other countries with troubled records.

Also July 10, the House Oversight Committee holds a hearing examining whether new embassy construction standards are putting US diplomats at risk.