THE BEAM IN OUR OWN EYE:

Israeli President Isaac Herzog may not be an ally to Benjamin Netanyahu or an official part of the Israeli government, but as a representative of the state, he is complicit in the occupation and discrimination of Palestinians. 

This is the message from several progressive Jewish American groups to US politicians as Herzog visits Washington, in a trip analysts describe as US President Joe Biden's attempt to showcase that the US-Israel relationship transcends the current disagreements with the far-right government led by Netanyahu. [...]

While IfnotNow and the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) have fully endorsed the decision by some lawmakers -  including llhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cori Bush - to boycott his address in Congress on Wednesday, other progressive Jewish groups say that Herzog's visit presents a rare opportunity for lawmakers to raise concerns over the rapidly deteriorating conditions in Israel and occupied Palestine.

According to a Middle East Eye tally, 192 Palestinians, including 33 children, have been killed by Israeli forces in 2023 alone.

"I think [lawmakers] should use the spotlight that his visit brings to raise the issues of settler violence, settler expansion, creeping annexation, discrimination both in occupied territories and Israel, and raises the issue of Israel's own democratic struggles - the judicial coup - that is happening," Hadar Susskind, president of Americans for Peace Now (APN), told Middle East Eye.

Since January, Netanyahu's coalition government has been pushing for judicial reforms Israelis say will give the government greater control over the appointment of judges and reduce the ability of the judiciary to veto government decisions. 

"There's a lot of people - including Democratic elected officials - who are very happy to talk about the judicial coup part because it is easy to cast - rightfully I think - Netanyahu and his coalition as the bad guys and Herzog as the good guy in that ... so they can welcome him.

"I think Israel's democracy is important and it is worth fighting for. But that cannot be the end of the discussion. You also have to talk about the occupation where there is no democracy. You still have to talk about the discrimination and violence," Susskind said.

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