Stefanik refused to say whether Palestinians have a right to self-determination [Getty]
President Donald Trump’s pick for the UN ambassador’s chair has backed Israel’s claims of biblical rights to the occupied West Bank, aligning herself with the most extreme members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist cabinet.
In her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was asked by Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen whether she agrees with the positions taken by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who lay claim to the entire territory.
“Yes,” she replied.
In a separate interaction, she described Jerusalem as the “eternal capital of Israel”.
Stefanik’s position aligns with some of Trump’s key backers in last year’s presidential campaign as well as other members of his staunchly pro-Israel administration.
Mike Huckabee, who is serving as Trump’s ambassador to Tel Aviv, has spoken in favour of Israel annexing the entire occupied West Bank and claimed that “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian”.
One of the administration’s first actions was to roll back US sanctions on Jewish extremists in the West Bank, just hours after settlers attacked a number of Palestinian villages.
The US’s relationship with Israel dominated the hearing, with many of the senators looking for confirmation about her pro-Israeli positions and voicing outright hostility towards UN institutions for defending Palestinian rights.
Stefanik on multiple occasions described the UN as “anti-semitic” and recalled her decision to back the defunding of its Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, which she claimed has “terrorist ties”.
She also dodged repeated questioning from Senator Van Hollen asking whether she believed Palestinians have a right to self-determination.
“I support human rights for all,” she alleged.
“We need to ensure that we are standing up for human rights, and Israel is standing up for human rights, it’s the beacon of human rights,” she added.
