House

Top Dem predicts broad support for measure denouncing UN vote on Israel

by Mike Lillis - 01/04/17 6:49 PM ET

The second-ranking House Democrat said Wednesday that his party will provide broad support for a resolution denouncing the Obama administration’s approach to a United Nations Security Council vote condemning Israeli settlements.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), the Democratic whip, emphasized that he doesn’t support Israel’s expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territories in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But the Security Council is the wrong group to settle the dispute, he argued, and the administration should have vetoed the measure.

He predicted many Democrats will join him in condemning the administration’s abstention when the non-binding House resolution hits the floor on Thursday.

{mosads}”I think there is going to be significant Democratic support for that,” Hoyer told reporters in the Capitol.

The Obama administration drew howls from lawmakers of both parties last month when officials declined to veto the non-binding U.N. resolution, which deemed Israel’s settlement expansion a breach of international law that undermines any peace deal between Israel and Palestine. The measure passed 14-0.

Consistent with long-standing U.S. policy, the administration agreed with the resolution’s underlying assessment. But the decision to abstain on the vote was highly unusual, as the U.S. has typically vetoed such measures as a gesture of support for its closest ally in the Middle East.

Hoyer said the decision was a mistake that sends the wrong message both to Israel and its enemies.

“The policy of the United States has been, for over a quarter of a century, that settlements should not be pursued. Most believe that is outside the sphere of greater Jerusalem as the growth of an organic city,” Hoyer said.

“But having said that, I think the question’s going to be for members, do they agree that the United States abstaining was a positive or do they believe it was not?”