The Senate passed a resolution expressing support of the Jewish state and condemned Palestinian terror attacks.
Senate Resolution 302 passed by unanimous consent on Nov. 10. The resolution, introduced by by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), condemned in the “harshest terms possible,” attacks that had at the time left 11 Israelis dead and 145 wounded, and called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stop incitement by Palestinian officials and media.
It further affirmed that the Senate “stands with the people of Israel during these difficult days” and supports the Jewish state’s right to self-defense, rejecting “any suggestion of the moral equivalence of Israeli security personnel” protecting its citizens and “terrorists intent to deliberately take innocent lives.”
Reiterating U.S. policy that a final peace must be negotiated, the resolution called on all parties to return to talks “immediately and without preconditions.” The resolution was introduced on Nov. 3, a few days prior to the White House’s announcement that the United States would not try to broker a peace agreement before President Barack Obama leaves office. At the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual conference last week in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was still in favor of “two states for two peoples.”
The resolution had 67 bipartisan co-sponsors, 41 Republicans and 26 Democrats. The week prior, the House of Representatives passed its own resolution condemning Palestinian terror.
