Virginia Foxx: “I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin) very much for yielding, and I very much appreciate his work on this…”

“I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin) very much for yielding, and I very much appreciate his work on this issue. Mr. Speaker, I also thank the Republican Foreign Affairs Committee staff and Ranking Member McCaul for their tireless defense of Israel. Furthermore, I want to state that I have a long history of working in a bipartisan fashion with my dear friend, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel. That is why it pains me to be here today debating a partisan resolution, a resolution that purports to defend a negotiated two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but that is simply not what this resolution is about. If it were, it would be bipartisan. This is a partisan resolution because it makes pointed criticisms of the Israeli Government on delicate, divisive, internal issues. It does so at a time when our Israeli counterparts struggle through the democratic process of forming a new government. House Democrats would only move this unconstructive resolution to the floor if it achieved aims of radical leftists in scoring points against the Trump administration. But, Mr. Speaker, I ask this majority, at what cost? At what cost are we voting on this? Moving forward to this vote risks the bipartisan support that a negotiated settlement leading to a sustainable two-state solution has enjoyed for decades.…”