President Donald Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has become the latest administration candidate to express a belief that Israel has “biblical” control over the occupied West Bank. .
Elise Stefanik’s comments Tuesday came during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she also pledged to further Trump’s “America First” mission.
“If confirmed, I stand ready to carry out President Trump’s mandate from the American people to put America First and provide national security leadership through strength through peace on the world stage.” stated in the statement.
Stefanik explained that if confirmed as ambassador, he would audit U.S. funding for the United Nations and its agencies. He will also seek to counter China’s influence in international institutions and strengthen Washington’s steadfast support for Israel.
But it was her views on the West Bank that offered the most striking contrast with those of the Trump administration and his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
Stefanik was asked if he agreed with far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel has a “biblical right to the entire West Bank.” To this, he answered firmly.
In an exchange with Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, she said, “Yes.”
Stefanik was asked whether she supported self-determination for Palestinians, but she dodged the question.
“I believe the Palestinian people deserve far better than the failures of terrorist leaders,” she said. “Of course they should be given human rights.”
wider shift
Over the past four years, the Biden administration has staunchly supported Israel at the United Nations. It has repeatedly vetoed UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire to end Israel’s war in Gaza.
However, the regime was prepared to stand up to its “ironclad” allies on the issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Such settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Stefanik’s comments were the latest sign that the incoming Trump administration will take a very different course.
President Trump’s first term saw a surge in settlement proposals, as his administration reversed 40 years of U.S. policy that outlawed expansion into the West Bank.
Trump, who took office on Monday, lifted Biden administration-era sanctions on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of violence against Palestinians.
Mike Huckabee, who was chosen by President Trump to be the US ambassador to Israel, has also supported Israeli settlements in the West Bank, justifying the Bible. For example, in a 2017 interview with CNN, Huckabee claimed that there is no Palestinian territory at all.
“There is no such thing as the West Bank. It is Judea and Samaria,” he said, using his Biblical name.
And in 2008, while campaigning for president, Huckabee claimed that Palestinian identity itself was a fiction.
“You have to be careful when you say this because people get really upset. There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” Huckabee, who has yet to face his confirmation hearing, said at the time.
“Standing with Israel”
Stefanik has long been one of Trump’s fiercest defenders in the U.S. House of Representatives.
However, in December 2023, she questioned three university leaders at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Pennsylvania, pressuring them about allegations of “anti-Semitism” on campus, which made headlines online. The interrogation achieved a new level of notoriety. In the aftermath, two of the three presidents resigned.
Critics say her accusations spurred a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests on campus by other university leaders, fearing a public backlash.
In his opening speech at Tuesday’s confirmation hearing, Stefanik cited his interactions with 2023 presidents and praised him as a “leader in combating anti-Semitism in higher education.”
“My oversight efforts led to the most-watched testimony in Congressional history,” she said. “This hearing with university presidents was heard around the world and viewed billions of times.”
In response to questions from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Stefanik vowed to continue and expand America’s tradition of support for Israel at the United Nations. The United States is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and therefore exercises veto power.
She reiterated the US position that Israel is unfairly targeted by the United Nations and denounced what she called “corruption of anti-Semitism” within the organization.
The US currently pays about one-fifth of the UN’s regular budget, a regular point of anger for President Trump.
Stefanik promised on Tuesday that he would “completely assess all subordinate agencies of the United Nations” to ensure “every dollar supports U.S. interests.”
He added that he opposes US funds going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
A bill passed by the U.S. Congress last year bars funding to the agency until March 2025, and humanitarian groups say the agency is an invaluable aid to Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza. It is claimed that
Stefanik defended Israel at the hearing, despite criticism from UN experts that Israel’s methods in Gaza were “consistent with genocide.”
Stefanik said Israel is “a beacon of human rights in the region.”
Stefanik’s hearing came just hours after former Sen. Marco Rubio, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, was sworn in as the first member of the incoming administration.