March 1, 2013

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Lawmakers in Congress introduced bills in time for AIPAC’s annual policy conference that would tighten Iran sanctions and back Israel should it strike that country’s suspected nuclear program.

A bill introduced this week in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the chairman of its Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), its ranking member, would designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization, subjecting the branch of the military loyal to the country’s religious rulers to broad automatic sanctions, and would authorize the president to impose sanctions at will on those dealing with Iran.

In the Senate, a non-binding resolution introduced by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of its Foreign Relations Committee, and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), would “if the Government of Israel is compelled to take military action in self-defense” urge the U.S. government to “stand with Israel and provide diplomatic, military, and economic support to the Government of Israel in its defense of its territory, people, and existence.”

Both bills will be part of the lobbying package some 13,000 delegates to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference will take to Capitol Hill next Tuesday.

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