July 24, 2019 "Information Clearing House" - The House of Representatives voted Tuesday by an overwhelming margin to pass a resolution condemning the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and to endorse a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The non-binding resolution passed 398-17. Resolution sponsor Rep. Brad Schneider, a Democrat from Illinois, told JTA that the measure’s resounding success shows that support for Israel is a bipartisan phenomenon.

While the resolution also made clear that Americans had the right to petition the government in support or opposition to a particular foreign policy, some Democrats argued that the resolution, which has no force in law, impinged on the First Amendment.

“I stand before you as the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, parents who experienced being stripped of their human rights, the right to freedom of travel, equal treatment,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan said on the House floor. “So I can’t stand by and watch this attack on our freedom of speech and the right to boycott the racist policies of the government and the state of Israel.”

Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, was one of the 17 to cast a “nay” vote. She was joined by two other members of “The Squad,” Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York (the Squad’s fourth member, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, voted in favor of the resolution).