Tammy Baldwin’s record of supporting Israel has been weak over the years.
She proudly supported the Iran deal, opposed sanctions against Iran, voted against an act making it illegal to boycott Israel, opposed Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, supported the creation of a Palestinian State, and voted against an act that would give security funding to Israel.
Baldwin’s record on Israel has been controversial for years. In 2012, a pro-Israel group ran an advertisement that called her “extreme” and weak on defense. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson called Baldwin “anti-Israel” during that race, a claim she denied.
“Over the past decade, Tammy Baldwin has established a foreign policy record of extremism,” Noah Pollak, of the pro-Israel, conservative Emergency Committee for Israel, told Politico in 2012.
“Yet now that she’s running for Senate, she’s attempting to obscure that record — in fact, her campaign website doesn’t even include a foreign policy section. Since she doesn’t want to tell the voters where she stands, we will.”
(A recent check of Baldwin’s campaign website still does not state her stance on foreign policy issues, including Israel.)
“Baldwin and (liberal Congressman Mark) Pocan are a part of a growing minority in Congress that opposes the long-held bipartisan support for Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” WKOW-TV reported in 2021.
That story is headlined, “Baldwin, Pocan join progressive push for Middle East cease-fire.”
Tammy Baldwin’s Weak Record on Israel
Since that time, she has taken a number of positions that are weak on Israel. The American Jewish Congress outlines her record. According to the AJC, Baldwin:
Supported the Iran Deal
At the time, Baldwin said in a press release, “I’m proud that America led six countries toward an historic international agreement with Iran. I believe we are right to choose a path of international diplomacy to achieve our goal of verifiably preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
According to Tablet Magazine, in describing the Iran deal, “Barack Obama legalized a terror state’s nuclear weapons program.” Tablet excoriated the “tens of billions of dollars that Obama paid the clerical regime, which included planeloads of cash.”
In 2018, when then President Donald Trump terminated the Iran deal, he said it “enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behavior, while at best delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons and allowing it to preserve nuclear research and development.”
Voted Against the ‘Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019’
That act authorized funds for Israel, along with other measures.
The bill would have struck a cooperation agreement with Jordan to fight ISIS, authorize sanctions against Syria unless it promised not to target civilians, extend an existing loan guarantee program with Israel, and make it “illegal under federal statute to boycott Israel,” as well as “authorizing security assistance to Israel over a 10-year period pursuant to the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding.”
Supports the Two State Solution
Baldwin supported creating an independent Palestinian State.
Jason Greenblatt, a former Trump administration official, wrote for CNN that the Hamas attack on Israel has killed the notion of a two-state solution. “Even if we had come up with a solution that was acceptable to the parties, though, there were still far too many Palestinians who were intent on massacring Jews and destroying the Jewish State of Israel,” he wrote.
Opposed Donald Trump’s Middle East Plan Because It Wasn’t Respectful Enough to Palestinians
Baldwin joined in a letter trashing Trump’s Middle East plan. The letter criticized the lack of Palestinian involvement and support, saying the Trump plan “violates the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”
The letter says, “Unilateral U.S. endorsement of Israeli sovereignty throughout Jerusalem, over all Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley guarantees Palestinian rejection and paves the way for full or partial Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Such a development would disregard international law, engender stiff opposition from our allies, and undermine existing U.S. policy regarding the unilateral annexation of Crimea, eastern Ukraine, northern Cyprus and elsewhere. It will also place allies like Jordan in an untenable position.”
According to BBC, Trump’s plan promised to “keep Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital. He proposed an independent Palestinian state and the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements.”
Over recent years, Baldwin has taken other actions not perceived as supportive of Israel:
Jewish Insider reported that Baldwin recently was photographed at a California fundraiser “with a San Francisco activist who has accused Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing,’ ‘apartheid’ and a ‘pogrom’ targeting Palestinians.”
She once joined calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians.
Baldwin also opposed Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, writing in a letter, “If you move forward with unilateral annexation, we would not support that action. This is consistent with long-standing American policy opposing unilateral actions by either party to the conflict. Pursuit of a viable, negotiated two state solution is essential to ensuring our shared democratic values and lasting bipartisan support for Israel in Congress.”
JStreet PAC, a liberal group, wrote of Baldwin, “She vocally protested Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to annex the West Bank.”
That site notes that Baldwin also:
-“Signed the bicameral Merkley-Stansbury letter pushing back against proposed mass evictions and demolitions in the West Bank communities of Masafer Yatta.”
-“Was an original co-sponsor of Senate Resolution 234 in 2019 reaffirming Senate support for a two-state solution…”
-“Was an original cosponsor of S.434, the Iran Diplomacy Act of 2021, which advocated for a reentry into President Obama’s Iran deal…”
-“Co-sponsored a war powers resolution to prevent President Trump from initiating an unauthorized military conflict with Iran.”
Baldwin has also been weak on Iran, opposing sanctions and supporting the Iran nuclear deal as we wrote about here.
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