Rep. Elise Stefanik pledged to represent Trump’s “America first” agenda and be an unwavering supporter of Israel at her confirmation hearing for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump was sworn into office.
Stefanik told senators on the Foreign Relations Committee that, if confirmed, she would clamp down on U.S. funding for humanitarian entities that are “counter to American interests.” She closely echoed complaints against the U.N. lodged by Trump and other Republicans – namely, that the international body takes advantage of the U.S. – its largest funder – and is biased against Israel.
Stefanik, a Republican representing New York, was the first administration nominee Trump announced after he won the election, underscoring her tight relationship with the president.
Stefanik also won broad praise from conservatives for her questioning of the presidents of Harvard University, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania over their policies on antisemitism at a congressional hearing held while mass rallies against Israel’s war in Gaza swept American college campuses. Two of the three presidents later stepped down.
Stefanik blasts U.N. for ‘antisemitic rot’
Throughout the hearing, Stefanik lambasted the U.N. for “antisemitic rot,” saying it had failed to appropriately condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and that its resolutions against Israel were baseless.
“If you look at the antisemitic rot within the United Nations, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis combined,” she said. “We need to be a voice of moral clarity… for the world to hear the importance of standing with Israel,” she said.
The U.N.’s human rights office said Israel may be guilty of multiple war crimes related to its military assault on Gaza in June of last year. Its Human Rights Council said the devastation wreaked on Palestinian civilians of the enclave amounted to “extermination.”
Barely a single senator, Democrats included, asked Stefanik about Palestinian civilians in Gaza. But Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked if she agreed “that in order to achieve long term peace and stability in the Middle East, that we have to secure the human rights and rights of self determination for both Israelis and Palestinians.”
“I support human rights for all, and I think it’s a disgrace that Hamas Hezbollah have stripped human rights of the Palestinian people.”
Stefanik also touted her vote in Congress to defund UNRWA, the UN’s organization for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA was the largest humanitarian aid organization in Gaza and ran around half of the enclave’s schools before Israel banned its operations after nine of its employees were found to have involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.
Stefanik defends Elon Musk’s gesture compared to Nazi salute
Sen. Chris Murphy pressed Elise Stefanik on a gesture Elon Musk made at a speech after Trump’s inauguration on Monday that many compared to a Nazi salute. Antisemitism should be called out “on both sides of the aisle,” Murphy said.
But Stefanik said the gesture was nothing of the kind.
“No, Elon Musk did not do those salutes,” she said. “The American people are smart and they see through it. They support Elon Musk.”
The Anti-Defamation League later said the gesture was not a sieg heil, calling it an “awkward” move during a “delicate moment” in a statement met with some derision and disagreement.
Stefanik also touted her vote in Congress to defund UNRWA, the UN’s organization for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA was the largest humanitarian aid organization in Gaza and ran around half of the enclave’s schools before Israel banned its operations after nine of its employees were found to have involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.
Stefanik defends Elon Musk’s gesture compared to Nazi salute
Sen. Chris Murphy pressed Elise Stefanik on a gesture Elon Musk made at a speech after Trump’s inauguration on Monday that many compared to a Nazi salute. Antisemitism should be called out “on both sides of the aisle,” Murphy said.
But Stefanik said the gesture was nothing of the kind.
“No, Elon Musk did not do those salutes,” she said. “The American people are smart and they see through it. They support Elon Musk.”
The Anti-Defamation League later said the gesture was not a sieg heil, calling it an “awkward” move during a “delicate moment” in a statement met with some derision and disagreement.
