Congress—Knesset Jerusalem Celebration denounced as “US Complicity in Israeli Criminality”

Plans to hold a joint teleconference and celebration marking fifty years since Jerusalem was unified during the 1967 war have been denounced by the Palestine Liberation Organization, the umbrella group that officially speaks on behalf of the Palestinian people. Executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi called the June 6 event “deepening American complicity in Israel’s criminality.” Through live telecommunications hook-ups between Congress and Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will speak to both legislative bodies from Washington, while Prime Minister Netanyahu and Speaker of Knesset Yuli Edelstein will speak from Jerusalem. Efforts are reportedly under way to enlist President Trump as the principle speaker. Ashrawi called the event “provocative” and “unprecedented.” She charged that the United States Congress was “singularly contravening longstanding American policy and becoming party to Israel’s egregious violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”