{"id":1966959,"date":"2023-07-07T16:49:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T20:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-state-department-did-not-consult-anti-semitism-office-on-israel-boycott-cruz-says\/"},"modified":"2023-07-07T16:52:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T20:52:19","slug":"biden-state-department-did-not-consult-anti-semitism-office-on-israel-boycott-cruz-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-state-department-did-not-consult-anti-semitism-office-on-israel-boycott-cruz-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz claims Biden State Department neglected Anti-Semitism Office in Israel Boycott consultation."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-state-department-did-not-consult-anti-semitism-office-on-israel-boycott-cruz-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1966959&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<p><h2>Move casts doubt on the department&#8217;s insistence that the policy was noncontroversial<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n      Deborah Lipstadt (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto\/Getty Images)<br \/>\n    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Biden State Department did not consult with its anti-Semitism watchdog before ending taxpayer funding for Israeli research projects, a move that casts doubt on the department&#8217;s insistence that the policy was noncontroversial.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration sent shockwaves through the pro-Israel advocacy world late last month when it decided to boycott all scientific cooperation projects with Jewish Israelis living in so-called settlements throughout East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Golan Heights. But &#8220;the State Department\u2019s own Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism was excluded from deliberations over this guidance and did not clear it,&#8221; according to a draft investigatory letter authored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) making the rounds on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n<p>The disclosure could undermine the State Department\u2019s claim that its ban on taxpayer funding for these Israeli groups is &#8220;simply reflective of the longstanding U.S. position&#8221; on disputed areas of the Jewish state. The department\u2019s anti-Semitism envoy, Holocaust historian Debra Lipstadt, is a vocal opponent of Israel boycotts, and routinely calls out foreign nations for their efforts to unfairly target the Jewish state. If the State Department cut Lipstadt out of discussions around the policy, it could signal the decision was much more internally controversial than officials are willing to publicly admit.<\/p>\n<p>After news about the Israel funding prohibition leaked last month, Republican leaders\u2014including several Republican presidential candidates\u2014quickly accused the Biden administration of advancing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Cruz\u2019s draft letter on the matter warns the Biden administration that its endorsement of this policy risks &#8220;a full rupture&#8221; in Congress\u2019s &#8220;ability to engage the Department of State on these issues.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Candidly, it is untenable for State Department officials to continue testifying to Congress that they support the U.S.-Israel relationship and then\u2014once out of view\u2014to push policies designed to undermine that relationship,&#8221; Cruz wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;Without a reversal in these trends Congressional oversight and the expeditious vetting of nominees would become intractable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A State Department spokesman declined to comment on Cruz\u2019s claims, saying it does not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ny-times-coaches-joe-biden-on-how-to-give-450k-payouts-to-border-crossers\/\" title=\"NY Times Coaches Joe Biden on How to Give 0K Payouts to Border Crossers\">discuss internal deliberations<\/a>, but told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> the &#8220;United States firmly rejects the BDS movement.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The spokesman reiterated the department\u2019s claim that the policy shift &#8220;reflects longstanding policy differentiating between the State of Israel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cruz also disclosed in the letter that the Israel funding boycott was hidden from Congress and the American public, only becoming known after it was leaked to the press.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is no wonder that the Biden administration sought to shield this new guidance from Congressional and public scrutiny,&#8221; the letter states. &#8220;The guidance does something America has never done before: unilaterally impose territorial restrictions on U.S. scientific research aid to Israel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In plain terms, Cruz added, the Biden administration is endorsing an &#8220;antisemitic boycott of Israel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The ban will impact at least three U.S.-Israeli scientific collaborations, according to <em>Axios<\/em>, which first reported the policy shift. The updated guidance reverses a Trump-era policy that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-defends-controversial-move-to-slash-israeli-research-funding\/\" title=\"Biden defends decision to cut Israeli research funding.\">allowed collaborative projects<\/a> with Jews living in disputed territories.<\/p>\n<p>Israel also objected to the move, with foreign minister Eli Cohen saying, &#8220;I object to the decision and think it is wrong.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The State Department spokesman pushed back against criticism, saying its diplomats &#8220;work tirelessly to oppose efforts that try to delegitimize Israel and to support Israel\u2019s further integration in the region and beyond.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration has repeatedly found itself in hot water for trying to undermine Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government. In addition to hiring several officials who have promoted the BDS movement, the administration was caught providing funding to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-state-department-did-not-consult-anti-semitism-office-on-israel-boycott-cruz-says\/\" title=\"Cruz claims Biden State Department neglected Anti-Semitism Office in Israel Boycott consultation.\">left-wing advocacy groups seeking<\/a> to unseat Netanyahu, as the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> first reported in March.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>administration&#8217;s decision to halt funding for Israeli research projects without consulting its anti-Semitism watchdog raises questions about the department&#8217;s claim that the policy was uncontroversial. This move undermines the credibility of the State Department&#8217;s stance on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":1966960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1966959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1966959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1966960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1966959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1966959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1966959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}