Media Contact 202-226-8467

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise sent a letter to President Biden urging him to instruct UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to oppose and veto any one-sided, anti-Israel action at the UN Security Council. 

“As the UN Security Council once again moves to consider another one-sided, biased, anti-Israel resolution, it is imperative that the United States maintain its position that only direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians can yield progress,” the lawmakers wrote. “For this reason, we urge your Administration to use the voice and vote of the United States to oppose and veto any anti-Israel action, including resolutions, at the UN Security Council.”

The full text of the letter can be found here and below. 

Dear President Biden,

We write to urge you to instruct your UN Ambassador, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, to oppose and veto any anti-Israel resolution put to a vote before the UN Security Council.

For decades, both Republican and Democrat Presidents held the position that it was the policy of the United States to oppose and veto one-sided or anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations Security Council. When President Obama and his UN Ambassador broke from that precedent in 2016 and abstained on the anti-Israel UN Security Council Resolution 2334, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of House Members joined together to say, “the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 undermines the prospect of Israelis and Palestinians resuming productive, direct negotiations.” Notably, the 2016 abstention did not contribute to any progress in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Breaking from long-standing precedent did not advance the cause of peace.

As the UN Security Council once again moves to consider another one-sided, biased, anti-Israel resolution, it is imperative that the United States maintain its position that only direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians can yield progress.  For this reason, we urge your Administration to use the voice and vote of the United States to oppose and veto any anti-Israel action, including resolutions, at the UN Security Council.

###