US Senate Democrats have started a public feud with President Barack Obama over his decision to exclude provisions on Israeli settlements from a bill that punishes American companies contributing to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) against Israel.
The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, which was signed into law by Obama on February 11, aims to remove unfair barriers to competitive US trade.
Obama has decided not to implement provisions in the trade law that compel US negotiators to protect Israel from being punished economically for its treatment of Palestinians.
The White House censured the term “Israeli-controlled territories” in the bill, saying the language lumping Israel and the Palestinian territories together contradicts US policy toward the settlements.
“Certain provisions of this act, by conflating Israel and ‘Israeli-controlled territories,’ are contrary to longstanding bipartisan United States policy, including with regard to the treatment of settlements,” Obama said in a signing statement on Wednesday.
Obama said he intended to interpret the newly signed law “in a manner that does not interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct diplomacy.”