O
ver the last few weeks, three important new bills were introduced on Capitol Hill that seek to strengthen the United States-Israel relationship.

Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York introduced bipartisan legislation that would extend the current mandate of the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad to include the Middle East and North Africa. The goal of the bill is to prevent the destruction of Jewish sites in the Middle East and North Africa.

Another bipartisan bill would compel the US State Department to publish an annual report on the state of incitement in Palestinian Authority textbooks.

The bill was introduced last Thursday by Zeldin and Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat of California, and is cosponsored by four other representatives, two from each party. The proposed legislation is the result of a report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which monitors the teaching of peace and tolerance in textbooks across the Middle East.

According to Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, students in the Palestinian Authority system use the same textbook for a given subject. So, for instance, all seventh-graders will use the same geography book. (This is unlike Israel, where there are a number of different textbooks serving different sectors.) As a result, if one textbook in the PA incites hate, all students in that grade will be affected.

Another no less important initiative will enable Israelis who invest in American companies to receive residential visas in the United States. Likewise, Americans investing in Israeli companies will be eligible to reside and work in Israel.

The initiative has been crawling through the bureaucratic pipeline since 2012, when it was first introduced, and will finally become official in both countries on May 1.

Speaking to Mishpacha, Israeli embassy spokesman Elad Strohmayer explained that there is no minimum investment threshold, and that each application will be examined individually. However, he qualified, investments must go toward for-profit businesses, and not as charitable donations, and the applicant must own at least 50% of the company.

After all relevant forms have been submitted, the applicant is invited for an interview at the consulate nearest his place of residence. After that, all documents are forwarded to Israel for processing and investigation by an interministerial committee. The final decision to issue the visa will be made by the Interior Ministry, after receiving a recommendation from the committee.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 758)