H.R. 2748 (117^th): Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021

This position statement was submitted by R Street Institute on Mar 15, 2022.

SpendingTracker.org estimates new spending due to H.R. 2748 will be negligible.

This position statement was submitted by Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) on Oct 4, 2021.

EMET is proud to have been instrumental in a legislation that not only supports expanding peace with Israel and regional stability, but also will support the human rights of those brave Arabs who would like to reach out to Israelis.

Said EMET founder and president Sarah Stern, “Throughout the Middle East, there are scores of individuals who have been arrested and tortured and sometimes even risk their lives for the ‘crime’ of reaching out to Israelis in friendship. The relevance of this bill is particularly important today. A little over a week ago in Erbil, Iraq, over 300 courageous intellectuals, dissidents and tribal leaders, Sunni and Shiite, convened a conference to Iraq joining the Abraham Accords. Unfortunately, the Iraqi government of Iraq has announced names of many participants and has set up roadblocks out of Kurdistan with the photos of these individuals.”

On September 17th, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a White House address commemorating the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords, “We will encourage more countries to follow the lead of the Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. We want to widen the circle of peaceful diplomacy because it’s in the interests of countries across the region and around the world for Israel to be treated like any other country. Normalization leads to greater stability, more cooperation, mutual progress – all things the region and the world need very badly right now.”

Continues Ms. Stern, “We have a moral imperative to pass this law and to do everything in our power to help brave dissidents such as those whose lives are now being threatened by the Iraqi government. This bill must be made into law as soon as possible.”