Castro, Van Hollen Lead 40+ Lawmakers in Demanding Transparency on U.S. Enforcement of Laws Regarding Aid to Israel

Castro, Van Hollen Lead 40+ Lawmakers in Demanding Transparency on U.S. Enforcement of Laws Regarding Aid to Israel

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led 42 lawmakers in demanding that the State Department comply with U.S. law to provide transparency on how much Israel is spending on settlement activity.

For over twenty years, U.S. law has required conditions on loan guarantees to Israel, limiting this assistance to within Israel's pre-1967 borders, and reducing amounts made available for loan guarantees by the amount of Israel's public expenditures on illegal settlements in the West Bank, which the State Department is required to report to the Congress.

The lawmakers wrote, "To enforce the prohibition of the use of the loan guarantees for settlement activity, the statute further provides that the amount of guarantees available 'shall be reduced by an amount equal to the amount extended or is estimated to have extended by the Government of Israel during the previous year for activities which the President determines are inconsistent with the objectives of this section or understandings reached between the United States Government and the Government of Israel regarding the implementation of the loan program.'"

The lawmakers highlighted the State Department's failure to comply with reporting requirements, noting, "The annual reports submitted by the Department of State under this provision have not, for at least a decade, provided the specific calculated figure the statute requires…The substitution of a categorical assertion for a specific figure has deprived Congress of information it is legally entitled to receive and rendered the deduction mechanism opaque for over a decade."

The lawmakers also raised concerns about the Trump Administration's possible extension of the loan guarantee program without making necessary reductions from settlements, writing, "If the administration is considering issuing new sovereign loan guarantees, including to Israel, it is essential that existing provisions in law, including the requirement to report on Israeli expenditures on settlements in the West Bank and the requirement to deduct those amounts from the loan guarantee authorities made available to Israel be followed."

Members who signed the letter include: Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Becca Balint (D-VT), André Carson (D-IN), Greg Casar (D-TX), Sean Casten (D-IL), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Danny Davis (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-IL), Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), Val Hoyle (D-OR), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Betty McCollum (D-MN), James McGovern (D-MA), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Deborah Ross (D-NC), Sen. Bernard Sanders (D-VT), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Derek Tran (D-CA), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)

Read the full letter here.