A bipartisan Senate push to censure the United Nations over a recent anti-Israel resolution is being stalled by a top Republican working to insert language increasing pressure on the U.N., an effort that has left the pro-Israel community seething and will make the measure irrelevant, according to senior pro-Israel officials and other sources who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
The measure, co-sponsored by Florida senator Marco Rubio and Maryland senator Ben Cardin, condemns a December United Nations Security Council resolution critical of Israel that the Obama administration allowed to pass, and demands no further anti-Israel action in the administration’s final days.
Top officials from pro-Israel groups told TWS that Tennessee senator Bob Corker is endangering movement of the measure by pursuing changes that would likely drive away Democratic support. These efforts, described by one source as “poison pill” provisions, would make the Senate measure irrelevant by delaying it until after an upcoming international conference that may set up further U.N. action against Israel, officials said.
Corker, the chair of the influential Foreign Relations Committee, told TWS the current measure is too weak to be effective.
“We have talked to many leaders in the pro-Israel community and they know that resolutions have no impact on anti-Semitism and are superficial ways of addressing the issue,” Corker told TWS. “We are hoping to introduce and pass legislation that will impact the U.N. in a negative way if it continues to pursue anti-Semitic measures.”
But officials at national pro-Israel groups view the resolution as integral in the run-up to a January 15 conference in Paris on the Middle East, which American lawmakers and Israeli officials have speculated could serve as the basis for another anti-Israel resolution at the U.N.
A senior official at Christians United for Israel, the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States, told TWS that the organization will announce a full-scale push in support of the Senate measure next week.
“This resolution needs to move forward without delay. Every senator needs to clearly send a message to the Obama administration that their constituents condemn the actions that took place at the U.N. Security Council at the end of December, and will not stand for any further anti-Israel actions during the twilight of President Obama’s tenure,” the official said.
Other officials told TWS that the pro-Israel community was enraged by Corker’s efforts, characterizing them as personal.
A top official from a pro-Israel group who has worked on responding to the U.N. resolution with the Trump transition team and with lawmakers in the House and Senate said the pro-Israel community did not accept Corker’s explanation. The official suggested Corker’s recalcitrance was due more to anger over not having his name on the resolution.
Another senior official with close ties to the incoming administration said that Corker was damaging his standing in the Republican party and with the Trump administration.
“It’s hard to imagine a more insulting justification for holding up an urgently needed pro-Israel measure than citing one’s devotion to fighting anti-Semitism. Bob Corker must think we’re idiots. Well, we’re not,” the official said. “He’s choosing to block a bipartisan resolution and undermine an ally in a time of need for reasons of personal vanity. Bob Corker is not a serious man, and this episode will not be forgotten.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has been heavily engaged in pushing for measures censuring the U.N. in response to the December resolution, declined to comment.
A condemnation similar to the Senate measure overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday, and was hailed by pro-Israel groups as setting the stage for more substantive measures in coming weeks. The Senate version was expected to easily clear the chamber after 10 Democrats declared their support last week.
Senator Rubio, a co-sponsor of the bill, underscored the necessity of passing the resolution in coming days.
“With the Paris peace conference only a week away, it is important that the Senate join the House in sending a clear message that both Democrats and Republicans reject UNSCR 2334 and all other efforts to unilaterally impose a solution on the Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. “At 51 co-sponsors and counting, there is strong bipartisan majority support behind sending this message in the coming week to Israel and the world that we stand with the Jewish state.”
