87 Senators Sign Letter Urging Obama's Support of Israel, Media Mostly Mum
By Noel Sheppard Thu, 06/24/2010
On Monday, 87 Senators signed a letter to President Obama affirming their support for Israel while urging his.
This comes in response to last month's highly-publicized flotilla incident in the Mediterranean Sea and the United Nations predictable anti-Israel reaction.
A similar letter has been circulated in the House that has apparently garnered 307 signatures.
Despite the overwhelming bipartisan outcry -- something rather rare in Washington these days to be sure -- very few American media outlets bothered to report the news.
Fortunately, the Hill published the following Wednesday (h/t Weasel Zippers):
Led by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) - and signed by 85 other members of the upper chamber - the letter argues that Israel's blockade of Gaza was both legal and necessary, and that Israeli commandos were acting in self-defense when they landed on the ship.
"[V]ideo footage shows that the Israeli commandos who arrived on the sixth ship, which was owned by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (the IHH), were brutally attacked with iron rods, knives, and broken glass," the senators wrote.
"They were forced to respond to that attack and we regret the loss of life that resulted," the letter adds.
The bipartisan group of lawmakers urged Obama to oppose a resolution in the United Nations critical of Israel.
According to JTA.org, a similar letter has been signed by 307 Representatives in the House.
Yet, besides the Hill, LexisNexis and Google News searches produced only Agence France-Presse and UPI reporting this news in the States.
No newspapers, no television outlets, and no Associated Press.
Why might that be?
For those interested, full text with signatories of the Senate letter is available here.
Readers are advised that too many of the signatures were illegible making it impossible to know who the thirteen Senators that didn't sign the letter are.
Stay tuned.
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