Members of the Florida congressional delegation from both sides of the aisle continue to stand against a UN proposal branding Israeli development over disputed territory “illegal” and some took aim at President Barack Obama’s administration for not vetoing the measure.
The UN proposal was sponsored by Egypt and incoming President Donald Trump has called on the Obama administration to veto it. But the U.S. abstained on the vote, refusing to veto the proposal, drawing criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Obama administration’s refusal to veto the proposal also drew fire from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who sits on the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Once again, opponents of the Jewish state are pushing yet another anti-Israel initiative that will further set back prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace,” Rubio said at the end of last week. “A peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be resolved through direct bilateral negotiations, not through biased resolutions passed in international bodies. Reports that the Obama administration may have colluded with the resolution's sponsors to push for a vote are alarming and, if true, shameful.”
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, had rounded up almost 400 members of Congress in signing off on a letter opposing the resolution. Deutch, who also broke with the Obama administration over its nuclear deal with Iran, noted he was “disappointed” with the failure to veto the proposal.
“This resolution passed by the UN Security Council does not take us closer to peace between Israel and the Palestinians nor does it make two states for two peoples more likely,” Deutch insisted on Friday. “That's why I am so disappointed that the United States did not veto it today.”
Deutch wasn’t the only South Florida Democrat to criticize the Obama administration’s failure to veto the resolution. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who chaired the Democratic National Committee (DNC), for most of Obama’s presidency slammed the decision to abstain.
“I condemn in the strongest of terms the United Nations Security Council's passage of this one-sided, anti-Israel resolution, as well as the United States' reckless abstention,” Wasserman Schultz said on Friday. “As a member of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, I opposed this resolution because our nation has consistently supported direct, bilateral negotiations as the only viable method to achieve a lasting peace. In fact, this irresponsible action moves us further away from peace and hastens the likelihood that we lose the trust of our allies around the world.
“Let me be clear: the only way to resolve this conflict is - and will always be - through direct, bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” Wasserman Schultz added. “It is baffling and unacceptable that the Obama administration would abstain on this blatant attempt to internationalize this conflict and perpetuate the UN's atrocious and biased record against our only true and dependable ally in the Middle East, the state of Israel. Simply put, today's vote did nothing to bring us any closer to a lasting peace. Instead, it has accomplished just the opposite.”
READ MORE FROM SUNSHINE STATE NEWS
Mast, Crist Among The Hill's '10 Freshmen to Watch'
2017 Will See Major Changes in the Florida Congressional Delegation
