Arizona’s Senators both voted to help pass the Senate’s Mideast Bill Package this afternoon. S.1 passed by a 77-23 vote as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) first legislative priority for this session – began while avoiding a vote on the then-shutdown; its future in the Democratic-controlled House is uncertain.
While all of the Republican Senators but one (KY’s Rand Paul) supported the measure, the Democrats were split, 25-22. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema have consistently voted in favor. Recent attention focused on the rebuke to the President’s desires to withdraw most/all troops from Syria and Afghanistan, but that is not what divided the Democrats.
Rather, it was the piece of the bill that gives support to state and local governments passing measures to thwart the BDS movement targeting Israel over its control over areas won in 1967. The American Civil Liberties Union and pro-Palestinian factions believe it targets their rights under the First Amendment.
Arizona has had such an “anti-BDS” measure for the past three years, and is presently involved in a challenge in the 9th Circuit over its provisions.
(This article was initially posted at Arizona’s Politics.)
