Eleven senators sent a letter to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, warning of various actions should a Palestinian effort move forward to remove Israel from the U.N. General Assembly.
“Israel is America’s closest ally in the Middle East, a geopolitically critical region,” the senators wrote on Monday. “The effort to diplomatically isolate Israel is aimed at ultimately destroying the Jewish state, which is both obscene and antithetical to American national security interests.”
Signatories included Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
The senators wrote that following a suspension of Israel, “we will move to limit American participation and funding across the U.N., including U.N. Programmes, Funds, and Other Entities and Bodies, as well as its Specialized Agencies and Related Organizations, both those in which the PLO participates and generally.”
The letter also warned of consequences for the Palestinians should such an effort succeed, such as reduced cooperation with the Palestinian Authority; ending assistance in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; closing Palestinian-related offices in the U.S. government; and “broadly curtailing diplomatic, economic and security engagements between American and Palestinian officials.”
