On Monday, the Biden Administration joined United Nations Security Council member nations on a
presidential statement (PRST) condemning Israel’s settlements in Judea and Samaria. This follows a “deal” brokered by the U.S. between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which forced Israel to make
significant concessions and agree to not make any new settlements in the area over the coming months. In return, the PA agreed to withdraw, at least temporarily, a resolution set for a
vote today that formally condemned Israel.
While the Biden Administration is attempting to spin this deal as a victory, “much of the language of the PRST [was] drawn from the draft resolution,” according to the
United Arab Emirates. This is not a victory—this is the Biden Administration failing to support our ally, Israel.
BACKGROUND:
- On Monday, member nations on the U.N. Security Council, including the United States, released a presidential statement saying they are “dismayed” by Israel’s new settlements in Samaria and Judea, condemning violence against civilians, and calling for a return to the status quo.
- The statement failed to mention Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem and ignored the PA’s pay-for-slay policy, which promotes antisemitism and subsidizes the murder of Jewish people.
- As threats from Communist China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia continue across the globe, the U.N. Security Council was planning to bring up for a vote a resolution targeting Israel for exercising its sovereignty.
- This resolution was brought forward by the United Arab Emirates on behalf of the PA, who maintains Israel is an “occupying Power.”
- The resolution would’ve condemned Israel’s recent approval of nine new Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria, an area the PA refers to as the West Bank, and called for an end to settlements.
- Following the announcement of additional Israeli settlements, the Biden Administration made the shocking claim that this would make it more difficult for the U.S. to work with Israel to counter the growing nuclear threat of Iran.
- The Biden Administration had called the initial resolution “unhelpful” but said they were “deeply troubled” by Israel’s new settlements and refused to say whether they would’ve vetoed the resolution or just abstained from the vote.
- In 2016, the Obama-Biden Administration broke precedent by abstaining from a vote on earlier settlements, showing the dangerous weakness on the world stage that President Trump fought to end by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem—Israel’s once and eternal capital.
- The Biden Administration should stop wrongfully asserting Israel cannot exercise its sovereign authority over Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. No other country in the world is wrongly treated this way.
- The Biden Administration must instead clearly support Israel’s efforts to counter terrorism and put pressure on the PA to stop inciting, incentivizing, and rewarding terrorism and stop the one-sided attacks against Israel at the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.
MAKE NO MISTAKE: By joining this statement, the Biden Administration has confirmed that, had the resolution been brought forward, the U.S. may not have vetoed it without significant concessions by Israel to the PA. House Republicans stand with Israel; Joe Biden and his Administration should have done the same by making it clear it would unequivocally oppose and block any actions against Israel, including the resolution and statement. It’s long past time to counter the anti-Israel bias that continues at the United Nations.
