Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) acknowledged that the United Nations was “not a fair forum” for Israel.
According to the Connecticut Democrat, the United States objecting to settlements in disputed territories was not new, but given the United Nations disposition on Israel, it would have been preferable for a resolution to have been devised behind the scenes.
“So, I don’t think there should have been any surprise that the United States has continued in its longstanding objection to the Israelis building settlements in east Jerusalem or territory outside of the ‘67 borders and further outside of what we call blocks,” he said. “What I think is alarming to many of us is that there are other ways to convey that objection to the Israelis than through the United Nations. The United Nations is fundamentally not a fair forum for the Israelis and traditionally the United States has tried to keep these resolutions at bay if not vetoing them, at least working behind the scenes to make sure they don’t come up for a vote and expressing our objections in other forums.”
“And so I guess I don’t draw an issue with the Obama administration saying to Netanyahu that this is detrimental to the two-state solution and is detrimental Israeli relations,” Murphy continued. “I just would have preferred that that conversation happened outside of the context of the U.N. which has for a long time been a place where Israel is not going to get a fair look on some of these very important issues.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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