Wiesenthal Center to Secretary Clinton: “Make it clear that the U.S. would never impose economic sanctions on Israel”

July 22, 2009

Wiesenthal Center to Secretary Clinton: “Make it clear that the U.S. would never impose economic sanctions on Israel”

Center officials say that the hint of shift in US/Israel alliance, “Only emboldens extremists and hardens Palestinian bargaining terms”

 The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged the U.S. Secretary of State Clinton to make it clear that the United States would never consider economic sanctions against its longtime ally.

At a briefing yesterday, State Department spokesman Robert Wood was asked about decreasing aid as way to move Israel to halt settlement expansion, a point of contention between the two states. Wood answered, “It’s premature to talk about that.”

“Such a statement could lead Palestinians to think that there’s a strategic shift away from the historic alliance between the U.S. and Israel,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Founder and Dean and Associate Dean of the Wiesenthal Center, respectively.

Center official further stated  that even the hint that sanctions against the Jewish state could be contemplated, “will achieve nothing but embolden extremists and harden the Palestinians’ demands before they even sit down to negotiate with the Israelis.”

 The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.

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