2017-2018 Bill 4373: Great Brittain - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 122nd Session, 2017-2018 3 4 H. 4373 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 House Resolution 9 Sponsors: Reps. Clemmons, Bernstein, Alexander, Allison, Anderson, Anthony, Arrington, Atkinson, 10 Atwater, Bales, Ballentine, Bamberg, Bannister, Bedingfield, Bennett, Blackwell, Bowers, Bradley, 11 Brown, Burns, Caskey, Chumley, Clary, Clyburn, CobbHunter, Cogswell, Cole, Collins, Crawford, 12 Crosby, Daning, Davis, Delleney, Dillard, Douglas, Duckworth, Elliott, Erickson, Felder, Finlay, Forrest, 13 Forrester, Fry, Funderburk, Gagnon, Gilliard, Govan, Hamilton, Hardee, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, 14 Henegan, Herbkersman, Hewitt, Hill, Hiott, Hixon, Hosey, Howard, Huggins, Jefferson, Johnson, Jordan, 15 King, Kirby, Knight, Loftis, Long, Lowe, Lucas, Mack, Magnuson, Martin, McCoy, McCravy, 16 McEachern, McKnight, Mitchell, D.C. Moss, V.S. Moss, Murphy, B. Newton, W. Newton, Norrell, Ott, 17 Parks, Pitts, Pope, Putnam, Ridgeway, M. Rivers, S. Rivers, RobinsonSimpson, Rutherford, Ryhal, 18 Sandifer, Simrill, G.M. Smith, G.R. Smith, J.E. Smith, Sottile, Spires, Stavrinakis, Stringer, Tallon, 19 Taylor, Thayer, Thigpen, Toole, Weeks, West, Wheeler, Whipper, White, Whitmire, Williams, Willis, 20 Young and Yow 21 Document Path: l:\council\bills\agm\19190wab17.docx 22 23 Introduced in the House on June 6, 2017 24 Adopted by the House on June 6, 2017 25 26 Summary: Great Brittain 27 28 29 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 30 31 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 32 6/6/2017 House Introduced and adopted 33 34 View the latest legislative information at the website 35 36 37 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 38 39 6/6/2017 40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A HOUSE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO CONGRATULATE GREAT BRITAIN ON THE OCCASION 12 OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 13 SIGNING OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION OF 1917, AND 14 TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR THE SIGNIFICANT 15 CONTRIBUTION MADE BY GREAT BRITAIN A CENTURY 16 AGO IN FACILITATING THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE 17 JEWISH NATIONAL HOME IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL. 18 19 Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is pleased 20 to note that the United Kingdom will celebrate the centennial 21 anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a 22 seminal document that helped initiate the reestablishment of a 23 Jewish state in the Land of Israel; and 24 25 Whereas, in November 2017, British Prime Minister Theresa May 26 will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the 27 United Kingdom to commemorate the Balfour Declaration’s one 28 hundredth anniversary; and 29 30 Whereas, the Government of Great Britain issued the Balfour 31 Declaration on November 2, 1917, defining the objective of 32 reestablishing the Jewish National Home in the Land of Israel and 33 facilitating its eventual independence as a modern Jewish State, a 34 declaration accepted by every Allied and associated country at that 35 time; and 36 37 Whereas, the text of the Balfour Declaration reads as follows: “His 38 Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in 39 Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use 40 their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it 41 being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may 42 prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing nonJewish

[4373] 2 1 communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed 2 by Jews in any other country”; and 3 4 Whereas, following the commitment made in the Balfour 5 Declaration, the legal basis for the reestablishment of the Jewish 6 National Home in the Land of Israel and eventual declaration of 7 Israel’s independence as the modern Jewish State was then set 8 forth in a binding instrument of international law enacted in the 9 San Remo Resolution on April 25, 1920 by the Principal Allied 10 Powers and associated countries; and 11 12 Whereas, that binding act of international law was then further 13 recognized and incorporated in subsequent binding instruments of 14 international law, namely Article 22 of the Covenant of the League 15 of Nations, the Mandate for Palestine, the 1920 FrancoBritish 16 Boundary Convention as modified by the 1922 Demarcation 17 Agreement, and the 1924 U.S.U.K. treaty; and 18 19 Whereas, none of the national and political rights thereby 20 recognized as inhering in the Jewish people have ever been 21 revoked, nullified or superseded by a subsequent legally valid and 22 binding document of international law; and 23 24 Whereas, Article 80 of the United Nations charter recognized the 25 continued inviolable validity of the rights granted to states or 26 peoples which already existed under international instruments, 27 including the binding act of international law enacted in the San 28 Remo Resolution; and 29 30 Whereas, the San Remo Resolution and League of Nations 31 Mandate, and other aforementioned supporting subsequent acts, 32 instruments and agreements of binding international law, legally 33 predicated the eventual declaration of the modern State of Israel’s 34 independence on May 14, 1948 as the Jewish National Home in 35 the Land of Israel, including the Jewish ancestral regions of Judea, 36 Samaria, and Jerusalem, therefore making it legally wrong to in 37 any way characterize the State of Israel as an occupier or to 38 suggest that the approximately 750,000 Jews currently living there 39 do so illegally or illegitimately; and 40 41 Whereas, the Israeli government and friends of Israel around the 42 world see the Balfour Declaration as a significant matter to be 43 celebrated, marking the first time a great world power recognized

[4373] 3 1 the Jewish people as a nation with the right to selfdetermination in 2 their ancestral homeland; and 3 4 Whereas, the House of Representatives of the State of South 5 Carolina celebrates with Israel and the United Kingdom upon the 6 centennial anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, and the 7 members congratulate the British resolve to recognize the State of 8 Israel as its steadfast ally. Now, therefore, 9 10 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives: 11 12 That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 13 by this resolution, congratulate Great Britain on the occasion of the 14 one hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Balfour 15 Declaration of 1917, and recognize and honor the significant 16 contribution made by Great Britain a century ago in facilitating the 17 establishment of the modern State of Israel and celebrate the one 18 hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration of 19 1917. 20 21 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be provided to 22 British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Honorable David 23 Burrows, Chairman of the British Parliamentary Israel Allies 24 Caucus. 25 XX 26

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