Established in 2013, the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance (CHIA) caucus celebrates its 5th anniversary this week. Co-chaired by Congressmen Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL), CHIA has worked hand in hand with the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) to become one of the most active foreign policy caucuses in Washington. Every year, HALC and AJC mark CHIA’s anniversary by carrying out joint advocacy activities in Washington.
This year’s advocacy activities coincide with the various legislative efforts on the Hill to restrict the F35 jets sales to Turkey. In addition to a resolution by three U.S. Senators to block the sale, if Turkey continues keeping Pastor Brunson imprisoned and its plans to buy Russian S-400 missiles, the House also wants to hold off on U.S. weapons sales to Turkey until a report is created to analyze worsening tensions between Washington and Ankara.
According to “The Hill”, the provision in the House version of the annual defense policy bill would require the Pentagon to provide Congress a report “on the impact that increasing strains on the U.S.-Turkey relationship, caused by provocative actions taken by the Turkish government over the past year, will have on all U.S. military and diplomatic activities currently conducted in Turkey.”
The Pentagon would be prohibited from executing “the delivery of a foreign military sale for major defense equipment under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act to Turkey, until the report is complete,” according to the language, included in a minority summary of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released Friday.
