The Philadelphia Jewish Voice
 

PJV#15
September 2006

Special Dossier: Echoes of War
• How To Support Israel 
• Arithmetic of Pain 
• Staging Qana
• Garaway 
• Major Ro'i Klein 
• Peoria 

Top Stories
• 30 Years to Entebbe
Forgotten Liberators
• Witness To A  Witness
• Change Of Command: JWB
• Gerlach Support Questioned
• Expression of Religion 
• Letters to the Editor

Community
• The Main Line Eruv
• Folkshlep
• Jewish Relief Agency
• Clinton in Narberth
• Bob Casey Fundraiser
• Kol Ami Finds Home
• Har Sinai Buys Site
• Candidate Comedy

In Their Own Words
• The Interview

Networking Central
• Ameinu

Living Judaism
• The Point Of Judaism

•  The Point Of An Eruv

Raising A Mensch
• First Day Of School

• Preventing Cancer

The Kosher Table
• Restaurant Magazine



Free Subscription

Past Issues
2006
: J F M A M J J A
2005: J A S O N D


 
  About       Free Subscription       Donate       Contact Us        Links   border="0" />    Archives

Jim Gerlach
Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-PA 6) 
Op/Ed

Rep. Gerlach Support for Israel Questioned
Supported Free Trade Agreement with Bahrain, a Nation That Refuses to End Israel Boycott.

-- Eliza Brinkmeyer

Political problems caused by Rep. Jim Gerlach's (R-Pa.) support of the controversial 2005 Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), an expansion of NAFTA, may be exacerbated by recent revelations that the Arab nation of Bahrain, whose U.S. free trade agreement Gerlach supported in 2005, has maintained its anti-Israel boycott, said Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch division today as part of its ongoing trade vote accountability project. 

During the debate over the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (BAFTA), many in the U.S. Congress raised concerns that Bahrain was part of the Arab League boycott of Israel that is designed to economically isolate and undermine the Jewish state. When U.S. trade officials failed to include a requirement that Bahrain remove its Israel boycott in the trade agreement, many members of Congress opposed the pact. Gerlach voted for it.

"Congressman Gerlach's recent campaign activities to promote his support for Israel seem awfully cynical given he is on the record supporting a trade agreement with Bahrain, a country that celebrates its continuing Israel boycott," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.

Recent Jerusalem Post reports quote Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa denying that his country would end the boycott. According to a Bahrain Tribune article quoted by the Jerusalem Post, Khalifa announced that "relations would be normal with Israel when the Arab League orders the Arab countries to end the boycott and until then the Kingdom was sticking to the boycott." 

"Congressman Gerlach faces a tough election in part thanks to his bad trade votes," Wallach said. "He cast a deciding vote for the CAFTA-NAFTA expansion, a deal which threatens Pennsylvania jobs, by claiming he had some deal that never materialized to fix U.S.-China trade problems. He voted for a trade agreement with Bahrain despite its boycott of Israel but now wants to claim he is a great supporter of Israel." 

Gerlach has not taken a position on the next Middle Eastern Free Trade Agreement, the Oman-U.S. Free Trade Agreement now pending before Congress.

Eliza Brinkmeyer works for Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.