GOP Calls for One Israel ‘For All People’
The Republican National Committee adopted a resolution calling for “a united Israel governed under one law for all people.”
The resolution passed last week at an RNC conference in New Orleans. Some liberal bloggers suggested that it effectively called for a single state in Israel and the West Bank, with citizenship rights extended to all.
With a preamble that describes the land of Israel as God-given to the Jews, the resolution resolves “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.”
“There is no interpretation possible other than that the RNC is also advocating complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank, including granting citizenship to the Palestinians living there,” wrote Mitchell Plitnick, the blogger who first reported on the resolution on Thursday.
However, the preamble’s language also suggests that the lands it refers to are those that Israel held before 1967. “The Nation of Israel declared its independent control and governance of said lands on May 14, 1948, with the goal of re-establishing their God-given lands as a homeland for the Jewish people.”
“I’m not sure it takes a position on borders beyond allowing the state of Israel to have secure ones,” Ralph Reed, a top Republican strategist, told JTA in an email on Friday.
The resolution also called for member lawmakers to institute similar legislation in their legislatures.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
