[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 UNESCO

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, when UNESCO admitted a nonexistent 
State of Palestine to its membership, it did so knowing U.S. law 
prohibits funding to any entity at the U.N. that grants the PLO the 
same status as other member states.
  The members of UNESCO also knew that admitting the so-called 
Palestine would have a negative impact on the future of the Israeli-
Palestinian peace process; yet they enthusiastically welcomed Abu Mazen 
at UNESCO.
  The only explanation for UNESCO's willingness to allow these 
consequences to pass is that its members view the delegitimizing of 
Israel as its mission. They view helping Abu Mazen to unilaterally 
establish the de facto recognition for a Palestinian state as a worthy 
means to an end.
  We must not only block any attempt by the administration to restore 
funding to this entity which clearly has an agenda opposite to 
America's interests, but we must also work to block Abu Mazen's 
attempts at the U.N. to bypass his obligations to Israel by continuing 
his unilateral statehood scheme.

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