In Nomination Hearing, Stefanik Criticizes ‘Anti-Semitic Rot’ in UN

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON—Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 21 as President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and criticized the multilateral organization over its stances against Israel.

In her opening statement, Stefanik said that the U.S. agenda at Turtle Bay will reflect Trump’s “America First” agenda, which includes standing with the Jewish state.

“As the world faces crisis after crisis, with hostages including Americans still held in Hamas’s captivity, to national security challenges ranging from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, it has never been more critical for the United States to lead with strength and moral clarity,” she said.

“This is especially important regarding our most precious ally, Israel, who faced the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust on Oct. 7th, 2023.”

She said one of the reasons she was interested in being the ambassador to the U.N. was due to the “anti-Semitic rot within the United Nations,” citing the countless resolutions going after Israel.

“We need to be a voice of moral clarity on the U.N. Security Council and at the United Nations at large for the world to hear, the importance of standing with Israel, and I intend to do that,” said Stefanik.

Stefanik called for the United Nations to wisely use U.S. funding.

“The U.S. is the largest contributor to the U.N. by far,” she said. “Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, anti-Semitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism.”

Trump on Jan. 20 put a 90-day pause on the administration of U.S. foreign assistance. This includes support for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The United States already suspended assistance to UNRWA, which has come under fire from critics saying that the organization’s schools in Gaza teach students to hate Israel, in light of some of the group’s workers participating in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the U.N. for a response to Stefanik’s testimony including her alleging anti-Israel bias.

The U.N. has not responded to the allegations of anti-Israel bias, but it called Israel’s barring U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country—after he called Iran-backed military attacks on Israel and Israel’s retaliating “tit-for-tat violence”—“one more attack on the United Nations staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.”

Stefanik said the Jewish people have a biblical right to the West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria.

Stefanik has had a pro-Israel record in Congress, where she has represented New York’s 21st Congressional District since 2015, as she went viral during a 2023 hearing by the House Education and Workforce Committee asking university presidents if calling for the genocide of Jews violates their school’s anti-harassment policies.

She has also questioned presidents of other universities in other hearings about their response to anti-Semitism on their campus.

Since those hearings, the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and Columbia University have resigned.

If confirmed, Stefanik would be the first in more than 20 years to go to the U.N. straight from Congress.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.