[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 172 (Thursday, December 1, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H7061-H7062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD ISRAEL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, day by day we are learning more about 
the future Trump administration, and as the picture becomes clearer, 
usually the news is troubling.
  One of the most unsettling indications about the Trump administration

[[Page H7062]]

and the Republican Party is the abandonment of a half century of 
bipartisan foreign policy regarding Israel and our commitment to a two-
state solution.
  Israel has no greater friend in the world than the United States, but 
one of the ways to demonstrate friendship is to be clear when your 
friends are making mistakes. Settlement activity by Israel on the West 
Bank and the renewed destruction of Palestinian homes and confiscation 
of property are mistakes. The overwhelming majority of Israelis still 
favor a two-state solution, they just despair of it being possible. The 
steps the Netanyahu government is taking on that path make it more 
remote.
  Donald Trump and the Republican Party he dominated at the Republican 
Convention abandoned the two-state solution. For the first time in a 
half century, the bipartisan commitment to a two-state solution has 
been stripped from the Republican Party platform.
  This matters.
  Donald Trump has empowered two of the most extreme voices, who have 
emboldened and defended settlement activity and undercut the necessary 
two-state solution, to manage his policy advice on Israel. This should 
be disturbing for everyone concerned about Middle East peace.
  The world is a complicated and dangerous place. There are hints that 
Donald Trump is starting to learn about this complexity in fits and 
starts. Witness his statements after visiting with President Obama and 
his walking back some of his most extreme and definitive campaign 
promises.
  It is important that the reality in the Middle East catches up sooner 
rather than later. A prime example is the Iranian nuclear agreement, 
one of the few things that China, Russia, Great Britain, France, 
Germany, and the United States all agreed upon. It is not perfect, and 
there are certainly Iranian leaders who are dangerous people, but this 
agreement was the best alternative and the only thing that all these 
parties could agree upon.
  Now, it is easy to talk on the campaign trail about blowing it up; it 
is harder to do in reality when it is actually working as it was 
supposed to and, in fact, is supported even by an overwhelming majority 
of American Jewish voters.
  We all have responsibility for a thoughtful foreign policy, and 
Democrats must stand firm to reject some of the reckless proposals from 
the Trump administration; but our Republican friends in Congress should 
not allow a half century of bipartisan foreign policy to become a 
casualty of some of the most extreme voices of American and Israeli 
politics.
  The time to speak out is now. Everyone must find their voice. Failure 
to support a two-state solution and reject the misguided settlement 
efforts which would make that solution impossible is a prescription for 
more pain, unrest, and violence between Israelis and Palestinians. 
Middle East peace should not be a casualty of the American election.

                          ____________________