CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and more than half of the Senate Republican Conference announced their intent to introduce the Stand with Israel Act when the Senate and House reconvene in November.
The legislation, which is led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-Idaho), would cut off U.S. funding to United Nations (UN) agencies that expel, downgrade, suspend, or otherwise restrict the participation of the State of Israel. This is companion legislation to bipartisan House bill HR 9394 led by Congressman Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.).
“The UN and its agencies have increasingly become a platform for anti-Israel forces to target the world’s only Jewish state. At the same time, countries like Iran and Russia have been free to maintain their status while launching ballistic missiles at their neighbors. If this ridiculous project to downgrade the membership of Israel—a free, democratic country and rightful member state—moves forward in the UN, the U.S. has no choice but to finally withdraw all support from a failed institution,” Senator Capito said.
“Any attempt to alter Israel’s status at the UN is clearly anti-Semitic,” Ranking Member Risch said. “That said, if the UN member states allow the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to downgrade Israel’s status at the UN, the U.S. must stop supporting the UN system, as it would clearly be beyond repair. I am disgusted that this outrageous idea has even been discussed, and will do all we can to ensure any changes to Israel’s status will come with consequences.”
BACKGROUND:
- Reports indicate that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will attempt to downgrade Israel’s status at the UN.
- The PA is able to do this after the UN General Assembly passed a biased resolution, which enhanced the PA’s status at the United Nations on May 10, 2024.
- The Stand with Israel Act would cut off U.S. funding to UN agencies that expel, downgrade, suspend, or otherwise restrict the participation of the State of Israel. The bill is modeled after the current prohibition of funding to any UN entities that elevate the status of the PA to a member state.
- Senator Capito has supported other efforts to hold the UN accountable for targeting the State of Israel, including a joint statement in response to anti-Israel efforts at the recent UN General Assembly.
- Senator Capito also joined a December 2023 letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres after the UN’s failure to condemn and investigate Hamas’s acts of sexual violence on Oct. 7.
Text of the Stand with Israel Act can be found here.
