The South Carolina state legislature has unanimously passed a bill calling on the state of Israel to retain control over the West Bank and highlighting what it terms the "cordial and mutually beneficial relations" enjoyed by Israel and South Carolina since 1948
Published: 06/25/11, 11:32 PM / Last Update: 06/26/11, 8:57 AM
S. Carolina Legislature Unanimously Endorses 'United Israel'
by Samuel Sokol
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The South Carolina state legislature has unanimously passed a bill calling on the state of Israel to retain control over the West Bank and highlighting what it terms the "cordial and mutually beneficial relations" enjoyed by Israel and South Carolina since 1948.
The bill, which was authored by Representative Alan Clemmons (R), was adopted on June 2 and was intended as an indictment of President Obama's Middle East policy, Rep. Clemmons told Israel National News.
The state lawmaker took issue with the President's belief that Jerusalem must be divided and that Israel return to the 1967 lines, he said.
Obama "said that that was what the American people wanted. I remember that I said to my wife when I heard this on Fox News, 'that's not what the American people who I know want!' The next day I started drafting the Resolution."
Clemmons "visited personally with each of the 124 members of the South Carolina House of Representatives to invite their support," he said. "Many chose to cosponsor the bill, which later passed unanimously."
According to the bill, Israel's enemies are also those of the United States and "the State of South Carolina and the nation of Israel have enjoyed cordial and mutually beneficial relations since 1948, a friendship that continues to strengthen with each passing year."
The resolution is entitled, "To commend the nation of Israel for its relations with the United States of America and with the state of South Carolina." It states, “Whereas, Israel has been granted her lands under and through the oldest recorded deed as reported in the Tanach, a tome of scripture held sacred and reverenced by Jew and Christian, alike, as the acts and words of God; and
"Whereas, as the Grantor of said lands, God stated to the Jewish people in the Tanach; in Leviticus, Chapter 20, Verse 24: ‘Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey’; and
"Whereas, God has never rescinded his grant of said lands; and…
"Whereas, those same haters of Israel also hate, and seek to destroy, the United States of America;…
"Be it resolved by the House of Representatives: That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, commend the nation of Israel for its relations with the United States of America and with the State of South Carolina….
"Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of each of South Carolina's sister states within the United States of America with the request and recommendation of this body that a similar resolution to that stated herein be proposed within their respective bodies."
The resolution resolved that "the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others, and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people."
While local legislatures do not enjoy any control over foreign policy in the United States, the measure is a harsh indictment of the President's current handling of affairs in the region.
Clemmons stated that he has sent copies of the bill to neighboring states and that "while I have not yet heard back from other states, I'm hopeful that my resolution will encourage others to speak out to show American solidarity with the people of Israel."
A copy of the bill was also sent to Settlement Council head Danny Dayan, who read from it publically on Monday at a symposium in Jerusalem promoting Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
"My hope was to show the people of Israel that while South Carolina is a small state, with an even smaller Jewish population, they were not alone in their struggles," Clemmons told Israel National News. "That average hot-dog-and-apple-pie-eating-Americans recognize that Israel's hero-settlers are settling and defending the lands inherited from their forefathers, who received it from G-d, and that we support them in their efforts.
"The residents of Israel's settlements have long reminded me of the American Pioneers of the Western United States in the latter half of the 19th Century."
Peace "cannot come through division," Clemmons told Israel National News, explaining that he and his constituents "believe that peace in the region can only come to a united Israel with one law for all of her citizens."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145184
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