In March, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced S.1061 - Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021 in the Senate. A companion bill, H.R.2748, was introduced by Rep. Bradley Scott Schneider (D-IL) in Congress.
The bills are very good. They seek to promote and expand the existing Abraham Accords, to work to find other Arab peace partners for Israel, to fight antisemitism and Holocaust denial in the Arab world, and - crucially - to protect Arabs who desire peace with Israel from being persecuted in their own countries who have "anti-normalization" laws.
I cannot find any reason why anyone would object to these bills. Yet for some reason, the bills have gone nowhere.
The Senate bill has just sat there since March. The Congressional bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism and to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, with no new news since April 30.
These bills have received very little attention in the media.
