Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a bill that would cut funds to the United Nations and to the Palestinians if the unilateral declaration of independence went forward.
Senator Orrin Hatch has introduced a similar measure that would end U.S. funding for the United Nations if the Security Council or the General Assembly changes Palestine's current status in the United Nations.
Among the Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney called what is happening at the U.N. "an unmitigated diplomatic disaster" that "is the culmination of President Obama's repeated efforts over three years to throw Israel under the bus and undermine its negotiating position. That policy must stop now."
Rick Perry said in a statement in New York this week:
With the end-run on Palestinian statehood imminent before the U.N., America must act swiftly. First, every nation within the U.N. must know America stands with Israel and the Oslo accord principle of direct negotiations without equivocation. Second, America must make it clear that a declaration of Palestinian Statehood in violation of the spirit of the Oslo accords could jeopardize our funding of U.N. operations. Third, the Palestinians must know their gambit comes with consequences, in particular that America will have to reconsider the $4 billion in assistance we have provided to the Palestinians over the last 17 years. Fourth, we should close the PLO office in Washington if the U.N. grants the standing of a Palestinian state. And fifth, we must signal to the world, including nations like Turkey and Egypt whom we have considered allies in recent years, that we won't tolerate aggression against Israel.
