Friday, December 23, 2016, New York, NY… Stephen M. Greenberg, Conference Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, issued an urgent call for President Barack Obama to immediately announce that the United States will veto the resolution being introduced by Venezuela, Senegal, New Zealand, and Malaysia at the UN Security Council in the next hours.
“This is the moral thing, the right thing, and the imperative thing for the President to do in keeping with the veto he exercised on a similar resolution in 2011. After Egypt’s President el-Sisi courageously withdrew the resolution from the Security Council and the Arab League meeting yesterday did not reinstate it, these four countries took it up despite the obvious damage it will do to any prospects of a meaningful peace process.
This resolution is unacceptable on many grounds including that it is another end-run by Chairman Abbas to avoid the responsibilities inherent in direct and meaningful negotiations. It would be an historic mistake for the Administration in its waning days to abandon the policies it has pursued, let alone allow the damage it will do to the relationship with Israel and other countries in the region.
There is no positive outcome from the passage of this resolution. We should not be on the same side as Venezuela but should be standing with our democratic ally against this one-sided resolution coming before a body whose bias against the Jewish State has been widely acknowledged even by the Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in a recent speech.
Despite any disagreements that may exist on particular policies, the President must not allow this resolution with its many negative ramifications, to pass”, the leaders said.
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