In a city long known for its large population of foreign diplomats, and for the equally large number of perks they enjoy, Congress has sent a startlingly different message to the embassies here: Pay up.
The District of Columbia can enforce its parking regulations because of a new federal law that says if diplomats don’t pay their parking tickets, their countries will lose part of their U.S. foreign aid.
Israel became the first nation to even its account when it issued a check for $62,870 this week to cover its diplomats’ parking tickets.
U.S. aid to Israel is about $3 billion a year.
A list issued by Congress shows that Russia owes the most in parking tickets: $3.8 million.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
