[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16276]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        UNESCO WESTERN WALL VOTE

  (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, this morning an initiative aimed at 
delegitimatizing Israel was defeated at UNESCO.
  Abu Mazen is set to head to the U.N. Human Rights Council for an 
emergency meeting next week where he will surely spew more of his 
dangerous rhetoric and even further inflame the tensions between the 
Palestinians and Israelis.
  The U.S. has had a clear policy of defending Israel from these biased 
attacks at the U.N., but recently we have seen perhaps a troubling 
shift in policy by the current administration.
  The administration's refusal to stand publicly and firmly with Israel 
emboldens groups at the U.N. to push forward with these initiatives and 
undermines longstanding U.S. policy. If the administration won't 
counter these efforts at the U.N., then Congress must use every tool at 
our disposal to hold these agencies and Abu Mazen accountable.
  Mr. Speaker, we must send a clear message to all the member states at 
the U.N. that Congress stands with Israel and that we will not allow 
these efforts to continue that seek to undermine the Jewish state, our 
best ally, and the U.N.

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