Most Senate confirmation hearings for ambassadorships don’t have high-drama moments. They are stale repetitions of conversations already held in the senator’s private office with the nominee.
In most cases, the senator is reading off notes prepared by their staff and making points for the cameras or a specific constituency at home that has a special interest in the topic. These confirmation hearings are usually attended by one or two senators at a time and as soon as most senators are done with their questions, they leave the hearing never to return. Only policy wonks watch the entire hearings. On infrequent occasions, a tense moment will develop, and the senator’s social media director will turn the clip into a short or reel.
Earlier in the year, a highly dramatic moment developed in a House committee meeting when Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) questioned the presidents of Ivy League universities about the antisemitism on their campuses. This became the most watched committee hearing in history, with the clips of the questioning and answers watched over a billion times in the months following the hearing. The atrocious answers given by the university presidents led to their resignations.
The now-outgoing congresswoman asked then-MIT president Dr. Sally Kornbluth, “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate MITs code of conduct?” After a sidestep of the answer, she pressed, “Yes or no, calling for the genocide of Jews does not constitute bullying and harassment?”
After further sidestepping, where Kornbluth said, “I’ve heard chants, which can be antisemitic depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people,” the congresswoman was shocked to hear then-University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill claim that calling for the genocide of Jews doesn’t necessarily violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct, and that whether it constitutes bullying or harassment is a context dependent decision.
Stefanik responded incredulously, “It’s a context dependent decision? That’s your testimony today? Calling for the genocide of Jews is, depending upon the context... is not bullying or harassment? This is the easiest question to answer yes, Ms. Magill. Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide? The speech is not harassment? This is unacceptable, Ms. Magill. Do you understand your testimony is dehumanizing them? Do you understand that dehumanization is part of antisemitism? It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes. And this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board.”
IN THIS hearing, Stefanik proved herself to be a woman of great principle. Banners were hung in Jerusalem thanking her for her strong stand. It was this hearing that probably led President Trump to nominate her to be America’s ambassador to the United Nations.
In her confirmation hearings, the congresswoman had another high drama moment. Only this time she was the one being questioned and the clip of her response didn’t go as viral – although it was shared widely in the American and Pro-Israel communities.
In this latest exchange, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) asked her: “Representative Stefanik, let me just ask you – I have 30 seconds left. I’m rarely surprised by answers in my office, but I did ask you whether you subscribe to the views of... Israeli Finance Minister [Bezalel] Smotrich and the former national security minister [Itamar] Ben-Gvir, who believed that Israel has a biblical right to the entire West Bank. And in that conversation, you told me that yes, you shared that view. Is that your view today?”
Stefanik simply answered, “Yes.”
Surprised, Van Hollen continued, “I think when it comes to this very difficult issue, if the president is going to succeed at bringing peace and stability to the Middle East, we’re going to have to look at the UN Security Council resolutions, not just the ones on Lebanon, which we should enforce, but other Security Council resolutions, and it’s going to be very difficult to achieve that if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed...”
Living in Judea and Samaria
AS A JEW living in Judea and Samaria, I instantly connected to Stefanik’s one-word response to Van Hollen’s question. The nominee for ambassador was teaching the senator and many other misguided individuals that American and global values are set by God, not UN resolutions.
This was surprising to Van Hollen and others, whose selective memory sometimes recognizes that “Israel has often been unfairly singled out and unfairly treated and criticized at the United Nations,” as he said on the Senate floor, but also refuses to admit UN failings with claims that “allegations the United Nations Relief and Works Agency collaborated with Hamas was a flat-out lie,” as the senator himself lied about in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.
While many might mistakenly think that UN resolutions should have more authority than the Bible, they forget two important factors. First, UN resolutions are not binding. They do not legislate international law, but are merely a statement of the majority of world nations’ consensus on an issue. Second, the majority of UN countries are ruled by tyrants, despots, and antisemites. To think that a resolution from these nations has any moral or legal authority is a severe perversion of both international law and basic morality.
Sen. Van Hollen would prefer America follow the distorted viewpoints of the United Nations, a cesspool of tyranny that America has fought against its entire existence, than the Bible, a Divinely authored work that inspired America’s Founding Fathers to declare an independent America based on the biblical values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Ambassador nominee Stefanik reminded Sen. Van Hollen, America, and the world that the Bible contains the values the world should follow, and that God has given the Jewish people the entire Land of Israel. This Divine gift to the Jewish people obviously includes the heartland of their homeland: Judea and Samaria.
The Jews of Judea and Samaria, and all of Israel, are grateful for Stefanik’s constant stand for truth, especially when she stands up for Israel and the Jewish people. May God bless her confirmation as ambassador and providentially protect her and her efforts at the United Nations. We hope she acts as a light onto the nations in the dark corridors of the UN.
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, where she lives with her husband and six children.