The United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution expressing support for Israel and strongly condemning the ongoing wave of Palestinian terror, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Thursday.
The resolution, which passed by unanimous consent on Tuesday, condemned in the “harshest terms possible” attacks that have left 11 Israelis dead and 145 wounded, and called on Palestinian Authority 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.”
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., introduced the resolution, which had 67 co-sponsors — 41 Republicans and 26 Democrats. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its own resolution condemning Palestinian terror.
The complete text of the resolution is available here.
On Monday, a bipartisan group of 36 senators signed a letter calling the European Union’s plan to issue new labeling guidelines for Israeli goods manufactured in territories beyond the 1949 armistice lines “unwarranted, dangerous, and damaging to the prospects of a negotiated solution to [the Israeli-Palestinian] conflict.” The following day, presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R – Fla.) wrote in the National Review that the guidelines would “encourage Europeans to boycott Israeli products, and to stoke European animosity toward Israel — which is already at disturbingly high levels.”
Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R – Texas), who is also a presidential contender, chaired a Senate hearing on the history of Palestinian and Iranian-backed terror against American citizens.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution condemning incitement by the Palestinian Authority against Israel, and another calling on European leaders to better protect their Jewish populations from rising anti-Semitism.
Recent polling indicates that strong, bipartisan congressional backing for Israel is a reflection of rising American support for the Jewish state.
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