The House on Monday adopted by voice vote a bipartisan resolution calling on the Palestinian Authority to end rhetoric fueling violence against Israelis and charging the State Department to monitor compliance with the request.
The resolution calls on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “and Palestinian Authority officials to discontinue all official incitement and exert influence to discourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in Palestinian civil society.”
It’s a response by congressional leaders to what they had seen as inadequate condemnation of the practice by the Obama administration.
“The U.S. Congress is speaking loudly and clearly — Palestinian officials must work to restore calm and renounce violent statements,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said. “And the administration must finally tackle the incitement issue with the seriousness that it deserves.”
The administration has in recent days stepped up its pressure on Abbas to curb incitement.
“Leaders must lead, and it is important to stop the back-and-forth of language that gives anybody an excuse to somehow be misinterpreted or misguided into believing that violence becomes a viable option. It is not a viable option. Diplomacy and negotiation are the viable road ahead,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Oct. 24 after a meeting in Amman with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
