New ALEC Model Resolution Affirms Support for Israel and Condemns Hamas’ Savage Attack
States have responded with resolutions expressing support for Israel in legislative chambers in Ohio, Texas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Michigan among others.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) stands with Israel and roundly condemns Hamas’ unprovoked and lethal assault on innocent Israeli civilians – children, women and men. This “act of sheer evil” resulted in more Jews killed in a single day than at any time since the Holocaust and more Jewish deaths than resulted from Nazi Germany’s Kristallnacht in 1938.
ALEC members responded rapidly by drafting the model Resolution to Affirm Support for Israel and to Condemn Hamas, which was adopted this week during an expedited meeting of ALEC’s joint Federalism & International Relations and Homeland Security Task Force.
The deployment of two US carrier groups to the region to deter geopolitical actors from expanding the conflict and to provide defensive capabilities was clearly necessary; a US Navy cruiser intercepted three rockets fired from Yemen appearing to target Israel. This is a precarious time for Israel with a real possibility of encirclement by Hezbollah and the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) in the north and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza and the West Bank.
In America, the states have responded with resolutions expressing support for Israel in legislative chambers in Ohio, Texas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Michigan among others. ALEC National Chair, FL Speaker Designate Daniel Perez emphasized his support for Israel during a recent interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show. ALEC members’ firm support for Israel is longstanding due in part to our shared values and robust strategic partnership.
The US-Israel partnership must continue to transcend politics, and this ALEC model policy underscores the states’ special role in strengthening bilateral ties by developing their own strong relationships with Israel. One hundred fifty ALEC members signed a letter opposing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions measures meant to destabilize Israel economically, and this Across the States podcast I recorded with Aryeh Lightstone, advisor to the former US Ambassador to Israel and Special Envoy for Economic Normalization, focuses on promoting Israel as a reliable and attractive trading partner.
Unfortunately, this war threatens to upend much of the great work done by the Abraham Accords to increase engagement between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Undoubtedly, desire to scuttle Saudi Arabia’s imminent normalization of relations with Israel, a deal that has been shelved indefinitely in the wake of the conflict, helps to explain why Hamas chose this moment to strike. Hamas’ deepening unpopularity in Gaza and the need to create a unifying crisis for Gazans could be another cause.
As I detailed in 2021, since the last election took place in 2006, Gazans have no political options to address economic stagnation, and according to the UN, 80% of Gazans live in poverty. Hamas also likely recognized that fractures within their most potent adversaries – Israel and the United States – might make this a uniquely opportune time to attack. Over the last few months, Israel has experienced historically large protests opposing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform proposals that would significantly weaken checks on executive power. America telegraphed our own political disarray, spending much of October without a Speaker of the House.
Protests erupting on US college campuses and around the globe are a frightening reminder that anti-Israel bias and anti-Semitism have intensified following Hamas’ attack and Israel’s response. This crisis should serve as a national wake up call to recreate the unity managed in the years after 9/11 and to educate our youth about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. Israel will survive this unprovoked assault and similarly work through political divisions once order is restored. Am Israel Chai!