The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Thursday to rebuke
the United Nations for passing a resolution criticizing Israeli
settlements.
Lawmakers voted 342-80 in favor of the bipartisan
non-binding resolution, which declares unwavering support for Israel and
insists that the United States reject any future U.N. actions that are
similarly "one-sided and anti-Israel."
A visibly angry House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
opened debate on the resolution by saying that the Obama administration
"abandoned our ally Israel when she needed us the most."
"Do not be fooled," Ryan said. "This U.N. Security
Council resolution ... was about one thing and one thing only. Israel’s
right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state.
"These types of one-sided efforts are designed to
isolate and delegitimize Israel. They do not advance peace, they make it
more elusive."
The House measure divided Democrats, 109 of whom
joined 233 Republicans in approving the measure. However, nearly 80 more
opposed the measure because they said it contained inaccuracies and
distorted the complexities of the Middle East peace process. They also
accused Republicans of attacking Obama unfairly in the waning days of
his presidency.
"The point of the measure seems to be to bash Obama
on the way out," said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who along with many
other Democrats still voiced strong support for Israel. They said Obama
deserved credit for engineering last year's new, long-term security
agreement that gives Israel $38 billion in U.S. military aid, including
$5 billion for missile defenses.
A similar bipartisan measure to reprimand the U.N.
has been introduced in the Senate. "Israel is always the bad guy in the
eyes of the United Nations," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of
the measure's co-sponsors.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny
Danon, said the resolution "proved once again that the US-Israel
alliance is based not only on shared interests, but also on shared
values ... This special relationship has endured the test of time and I
have no doubt that it will continue to be strengthened in the future."
Israel and its supporters lashed out at Obama for his
decision to abstain and allow the U.N. Security Council to approve in
December a resolution calling Israel's settlements in the West Bank and
east Jerusalem "a flagrant violation under international law."
Although the U.S. is opposed to the settlements, it
has traditionally used its veto power as a permanent member of the
Security Council to scuttle resolutions that condemn Israel. Disputes
between Israel and the Palestinians must be resolved through direct
negotiations, according to longstanding practice and policy.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, accused
Obama of a "shameful ambush" and said he was looking forward to working
with Trump, whom he described as his friend.
But Secretary of State John Kerry said in a late
December speech that the U.S. was standing up for a two-state solution
when it abstained on the resolution. He criticized Israel for settlement
building and blamed Netanyahu for dragging Israel away from democracy.
Kerry said expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are leading to an "irreversible one-state reality."
The Palestinians seek the West Bank and east
Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war, for an
independent state. They say that Israeli settlements in these areas, now
home to about 600,000 Israelis, are threatening their plans for
independence by taking in lands where they hope to establish their
state.
The U.N. resolution, along with Kerry's speech,
essentially endorsed the Palestinian position by calling for the
pre-1967 lines to serve as the reference point for a final border.
Netanyahu, who opposes a return to the 1967 lines, has condemned the moves as "skewed" and "shameful."
Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the Republican chairman of
the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the panel's
top Democrat, sponsored the House measure. The U.N. resolution
"undermines the prospect for Israelis and Palestinians resuming
productive, direct negotiations," according to their legislation, and
should be "repealed or fundamentally altered."
Attention from the move by the U.N. last month could
provide fuel for pro-Israel initiatives favored by conservatives on
Capitol Hill. For example, a small group of Republican senators is
proposing to withhold 50 percent of the State Department's 2017 budget
until the U.S. Embassy in Israel is moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
During the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised to shift the
embassy.
But a spokesman for Jordan's government told The
Associated Press on Thursday that the embassy move would be a "red line"
for Jordan and "inflame the Islamic and Arab streets." Jordan serves as
custodian of a major Islamic shrine in east Jerusalem and the
Palestinians seek a capital there.