National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira Forman today made the following statement regarding the House of Representatives' legislative agenda this week:
"Congressional leadership loves to talk about how much they support Israel. But as bombs fell throughout the north of Israel and international leaders demeaned themselves by their criticisms of Israel, our leaders have been fiddling away.
"Fiddling away, in fact, in favor of the wedge issues most important to extreme social conservatives -- just today, the House Rules Committee debates "Pledge Protection" while a majority of the House voted to enshrine bigotry against gays into our Constitution.
"Neither the Pledge of Allegiance nor marriage are currently threatened. After all, these bills would simply maintain the status quo. Yet each "issue" was a priority for the House, which at this time has still not passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel.
"When the going gets tough, the tough play to their base. Instead of determining how to best support Israel in its time of need, the House of Representatives has been debating artificial issues intended to divide Americans rather than solve real problems.
"We can do better."
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