I write this in defense of my Oregon, a state I grew up in and love. I strongly condemn the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013. This AIPAC inspired bill was introduced by California’s Barbara Boxer, and co-sponsored by Ron Wyden. My Oregon is part of a larger world and deserves better than this.

It is often said that there must never be any “daylight” between Israel and the US. I beg to differ. Every time Israel ignores international law, engages in racism, or continues to steal land, we should all feel compelled to cry out for more distance, more “daylight.” The more we become entangled in Israel’s moral quagmire and the more our legislators bend our rules to accommodate Israel, the more likely it becomes that Israel’s oppressive policies will corrode our own laws and values. People must realize that, for all non-Jewish people inside Israel and living under its occupation, Israel is not a true democracy.

The bill in question highlights these issues. It would legalize discrimination against Americans who travel to Israel, while privileging Israelis who come here. As one reporter noted, “Israel has a practice of routinely refusing to allow Americans of Arab ethnicity or Muslim backgrounds to enter their country or the occupied territories it controls; it also bars those who are critical of Israel or who support Palestinian rights”. Our own State Department apparently concurs and warns American travelers that,“Some US citizens holding Israeli nationality, possessing a Palestinian identity card, or of Arab or Muslim origin have experienced significant difficulties in entering or exiting Israel or the West Bank.”

This bill would legalize all that. Please note the basic criteria: those who are critical of Israel or who support Palestinian rights. That includes not only those of Arab ethnicity, but American Jews and any other American that someone in Israel decides it doesn’t like. Since when did ANY foreign country get to decide what Americans can or can’t say?

This bill not only empowers Israel to silence Jewish Americans, it also opens the door for Israel to impose its unique legal standards on all other Americans as well. Israel doesn’t have a constitution. Some Israelis were afraid it might compete with the Torah as a basis for Israeli law. With all due respect to the Jewish religion, their scriptures are not yet the law of THIS country.

Remarkably, this bill also gives Israelis “visa free” status to come to this country with hardly any control at all. In 2010, Israel was censured by the EU because their agents used falsified British, Irish, French and German passports to conduct an “extrajudicial” killing in Dubai. Now Israel will likely see the US as the country of choice for conducting “extrajudicial” killings. This bill will make it so easy…

Who knows what other dark doors the policy of “no daylight” will open next. If a nameless Israeli bureaucrat decides that I have been critical of Israel, do I end up on a “no-fly” list here at home? If Americans go to Israel to see what their 7.5 million dollars a day in aid really buys us, and they come home having decided that illegal settlements, an illegal occupation, and an illegal wall are pretty poor investments compared to education and healthcare here at home (or even paying down our huge deficit!), are they then to be placed on a “terrorist” watch list?

I don’t know. I just know that in my Oregon, my Senator would never support this bill.

Please write to Wyden and Merkley today and protest this outrageous legislation.

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