President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the passing of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Tuesday, August 10, 2021, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
President Joe Biden announced that his administration is re-imposing a ban on providing any American taxpayer funding for research and development or scientific cooperation projects conducted in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Axios reported that the move reversed a decision by Donald Trump’s Administration to lift the ban. But that move came just a few weeks before the 2020 presidential elections that Trump lost.
“The Department of State recently circulated foreign policy guidance to relevant agencies advising that engaging in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation with Israel” in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights “is inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy,” a State Department spokesperson told Axios.
“This guidance is simply reflective of the longstanding U.S. position … that the ultimate disposition of the geographic areas which came under the administration of Israel after June 5, 1967 is a final status matter and that we are working towards a negotiated two-state solution in which Israel lives in peace and security alongside a viable Palestinian state,” the spokesperson added.
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Apparently, the Biden Administration informed the Israeli government of the move two weeks ago. But the Israeli government has yet to comment on this.
One person who has harshly criticized the move is Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas.
Ted Cruz issued a statement saying, “Joe Biden and Biden administration officials are pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel. Since day one of their administration they have launched campaigns against our Israeli allies that are granular, whole of government, and done in secret.”
Senator Ted Cruz went on to charge that the move is yet another example of this, saying “The State Department is telling the entire U.S. government not to cooperate with Jews in Judea and Samaria. And of course it was sent to Congress in secret, and only revealed because reporters found out.”
Ted Cruz also pledged that he will do “everything possible to reverse this decision and prohibit such anti-Semitic discrimination by the U.S. government in the future.”
