House Democrats Vote Down Republican Amendment Condemning Movement to Boycott the Jews

Even the German Parliament voted against the boycott, divestment and sanction Israel movement. 

The Boycott the Jews (BDS) movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanction Israel) is no different from the Nazi economic boycott of the Jews in prewar Germany. In the 1930s, BDS led to the Holocaust. Preceding Kristallnacht, the Nazis called for Germans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses. Nazi BDS is the direct antecedent to the current BDS movement. This is no different.

The Democrats support a racist boycott against a country who human rights record is unmatched in the region and perhaps the world. But takes no action against the world’s worst sponsors of terror and human rights. Worse, they support them (ie Iran, Venezuela etc).  That tells you everything about their motives.

House Democrats vote down Republican amendment on BDS

12 Democrats broke party ranks to vote in favor of the Motion

By Laura Kelly, May 23, 2019

House Republicans pushed for a vote on condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel on Thursday, introducing a last minute amendment during the final votes of a retirement bill before Congress goes on recess.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, offered a Motion to Recommit (MTR), a tool frequently used by the Minority party to add their agenda items to the Majority’s bills on the House floor, to introduce an amendment that makes it illegal to boycott the state of Israel.

The MTR was attached to a bipartisan bill on improving opportunity for retirement savings. The move by Republicans, however, was another attempt to bring their anti-BDS bill, part of the Senate passed S.1, Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act, to the House floor.

McHenry referenced the bipartisan S.1 in his speech on the floor.

“I have worked for three years to hammer out a bipartisan approach to stopping the BDS movement, that got rolled into the bill that was passed in January in the Senate. Seventy-seven senators joined together and sent a bill over here to the house. We’ve waited four months with no vote, on that bill,” McHenry said.

While the motion failed, at least 12 Democrats broke party ranks to vote in favor of the Motion, including Reps. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), Joe Cunningham (D-SC), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Kendra Horn (D-OK), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Elaine Luria (D-VA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Max Rose (D-NY), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and Susan Wild (D-PA).

“I guess you could say that I am intolerant of any anti-Israel sentiment,” Rep. Van Drew told Jewish Insider. “I’m just tired of it. Because of that, when an issue like this comes up, it’s a way you can show your support for Israel and show your lack of support for anybody that would attack Israel in any way.”

Republicans frame their move as standing up against antisemitism and in support of Israel, yet cause frustration in the Democratic party when bringing anti-BDS legislation to the floor.

“That’s something we’re going to have to speak more about in the future as an entire caucus,” Rep. Van Drew said, referencing anti-BDS legislation and the Republican discharge petition, “that leadership would get such a bill on the floor and that we would have the opportunity to vote on it.”

Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) condemned the tactic of the MTR, but said she voted Yes to send a message.

“For the most part I believe these procedural tactics distract from the overall legislation,” she wrote in an email to JI. “But I voted in favor of today’s motion to send a message on this issue – the BDS movement is harmful to Israel and ultimately undermines our national security.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), was one of five Democrats to vote with the Republican MTR on the Yemen bill. At the time, he told JI, “This is a matter of principle for me. I have always stood strong against antisemitism and always will.”

Other Democrats have earlier criticized MTR attempts by Republicans on antisemitism and Israel as cynical and an effort to treat support for the Jewish State as a political cudgel.

“I am also deeply disturbed by the Republican party’s repeated efforts to turn support for Israel in our country into a partisan issue,” Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), said in a statement following the defeat of a Republican MTR on antisemitism, that would have killed a Yemen war powers resolution. “If these irresponsible attacks continue, Americans will become increasingly divided on something that Democrats and Republicans have long agreed on.”