Tim Kaine

Mr. President, Procedure · 109 wordsI rise to speak on the human rights reporting resolution that will be before the body within about 90 minutes. I am a cosponsor of the bill. Because this resolution is a little bit unusual, I thought I would describe sort of the procedural context and the reason for the statute and then describe why I strongly support a resolution to direct the Department of State to give us a human rights report about Israeli activities on the West Bank, violence against folks on the West Bank and in particular violence against Americans on the West Bank, for which there has been as of yet little or no accountability.Procedure Claims · 77 wordsThis is a provision that is called a 502B resolution.¹ Like some other resolutions that I brought to the floor in the last year, it is a privileged resolution, and the ``privilege’’ means that a single Senator can file it seeking a human rights report on any nation. The resolution cannot be locked up in committee. Within a certain number of days, it ripens, <sup>2</sup>and it is guaranteed a floor vote with a simple- majority passage threshold. Reasoning · 30 wordsThe theme that seems to unify these privileged resolutions is it is an effort of a Senator--even a single Senator--to shine a spotlight on and demand accountability from the Executive. Claims · 203 wordsWhether that is on the declaration of an emergency or the transfer of arms or the initiation of war or, in this case, the provision of U.S. aid, a Senator has the right to force a vote on the Senate to explore in this case the human rights record of any nation receiving U.S. aid. This is not the first such resolution I have brought to the floor. I brought one to the floor 6 or 8 months ago to seek a human rights report on El Salvador because El Salvador was receiving all these deported individuals from America--not Salvadorans--and imprisoning them in a notorious prison.<sup>3</sup> In that case, I sought information about the conditions of imprisonment. What was the deal between the United States and El Salvador? What is the human rights record of that prison? Can someone in the prison from the United States demonstrate that they are the wrong person, that they picked up the wrong person? So this is the second such resolution I have helped bring to the floor, and I have about two dozen others that I have filed and that are pending--all the nations into which the President is sending folks pursuant to these third-country deportations.<sup>4</sup> Reasoning · 27 wordsI believe it would be important for Congress to get the information about the transfers, about the cost, about the agreements, and about the human rights records. Claims · 319 wordsSo this is part of a larger strategy that was put into statute to enable Congress to test the human rights record of nations that are receiving U.S. aid. In this instance, this resolution, which was initially cosponsored by Senators Van Hollen, Sanders, <sup>5</sup>and I but now has a number of cosponsors, is specifically to seek a State Department report on the Israel human rights record about the treatment of folks on the West Bank.<sup>6</sup> It lists a number of circumstances in which U.S. citizens--mostly Palestinian American but U.S. citizens--have been killed or injured on the West Bank, and there has been no accountability for that by the Israeli Government. The circumstances on the West Bank are pretty dire. If you just go based upon Israeli media or Israeli human rights organizations, there have been significant public instances of attacks on Palestinian communities on the West Bank for which there has been no accountability. But the notice of these particular attacks has not just been limited to Israeli press or Israeli human rights organizations; international organizations have raised the same issue, but also, importantly, so have U.S. officials serving in Israel during multiple Democratic and Republican administrations. For example, I have attended briefings where U.S. military officials posted in Israel have described instances of violence on the West Bank committed by Israelis and in some instances even Israeli security forces or Israeli IDF reservists. So the violence is not just private- on-private violence, but some of it is being facilitated and even encouraged or participated in by members of the Israeli Government, and that is reporting from the U.S. military. Recently, President Trump’s Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, whom I knew as Governor Huckabee because we served as Governors together 20 years ago, has similarly complained about violence against folks on the West Bank perpetrated by Israelis--in this case, Israeli settlers--and the lack of any accountability for that violence.<sup>7</sup> Positioning · 7 wordsObviously, that should raise serious, serious concerns, PositioningReasoning · 61 wordsbut when the violence is also perpetrated against Americans who are there on the West Bank to study, there on the West Bank to visit their families, there on the West Bank to be human rights observers or journalists--when the violence is committed against Americans, we need to take specific steps to make sure we understand that there will be accountability. Claims · 57 wordsThat is what this resolution would do. It would require the Department of State, within a set period of time, to issue a human rights report that specifically addresses the questions that are listed in the resolution and particularly those questions that bear upon violence committed against Americans and what Israel can or will do about it.<sup>9</sup> Reasoning · 20 wordsAnything dealing with United States-Israel relations or the Middle East, frankly, is controversial because it is such a challenging area. Claims · 12 wordsAnd let’s be clear, Israel is a friend. Israel is an ally. Reasoning · 38 wordsThat friendship is between the American people and the Israeli people. It is between the American Nation and the State of Israel. That friendship is a friendship that is really important regardless of which leaders are in place. Claims · 52 wordsThis is a relationship that goes back to the United States’ decision under President Truman to immediately recognize the nation of Israel once the U.N. decided in 1947 that there would be an Israel for the Jewish people and a Palestine for Palestinian people.<sup>8</sup> President Truman immediately recognized the nation of Israel, Anecdote · 15 wordsand that is one of the reasons why Truman is one of my favorite Presidents.Anecdote Reasoning · 63 wordsHowever, ``friendship and partnership’’ are not the same as ``complete agreement.’’ In fact, if you are not candid with your friends and if you can’t have a friendship that can survive being candid with one another, it is not really a friendship. A friendship is only tested when you are candid with each other and find out whether the relationship lasts through disagreement. Claims · 17 wordsThis is an area of pretty profound disagreement between many of us and that nation of Israel. Reasoning · 44 wordsAs I conclude, I would say that the reason this resolution is on the floor is because of a deep perception by many of us in this body that despite that friendship, we are not being listened to. We are not being listened to. Claims · 117 wordsMany of us in both parties and administrations of both parties have raised this issue of violence against Palestinians on the West Bank over and over and over again with those in the Israeli Government that we have interacted with. I know I have, in my visits to Israel over the years as mayor and Governor and Senator, in sessions we have had with Israeli leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and in discussions we have had with Knesset members and others--I have specifically raised in person and by letter and now in joining in this resolution this issue of violence against people living on the West Bank and what needs to be done about it. Procedure · 4 wordsI will be blunt.Procedure Reasoning · 128 wordsDespite raising this issue privately in the way that you would maybe first want a dialogue with a friend--raising the issue and seeking assistance--and raising it multiple times, I have come to the conclusion that I am not being listened to.No reason given I have come to the conclusion that even though this is a friendship that matters and even though the United States is Israel’s most important security partner, they are completely ignoring us when we raise important human rights issues such as this one.No reason given So when a friend is speaking to you as a friend and urging you to do better--that is what friends do for one another--and the friend is being ignored, you end up making resolutions like the one we will vote on later a necessity. The ask · 57 wordsSo it is my hope that we will get a robust vote on the need for the State Department to fully lay out the human rights record and particularly what will be done to stop violence against all on the West Bank but especially what will be done to stop violence against Americans on the West Bank. Procedure · 16 wordsFor that reason, I am very happy to join my colleague Senator Van Hollen and others, ProcedureThe ask · 14 wordsand I urge a ``yes’’ vote on the resolution when it comes up later. Procedure · 4 wordsI yield the floor.Procedure