Steve Daines Presses Ambassador Nominee Mike Waltz On 'Anti-Israeli Sentiment' At United Nations

4 months ago

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) spoke about "anti-Israeli sentiment" at the United Nations.

Transcript

00:00Senator Danes.

00:02Mr. Walz, thank you for being here today, and thank you for your very distinguished

00:10service to our great nation and special forces.

00:13I very much enjoyed our conversation yesterday, and thank you for accepting going through

00:19this process to play a very important role here at the United Nations.

00:24Mr. Walz, as you know, the United Nations has become a hotbed of anti-Semitism, a hotbed

00:32of anti-Israeli sentiment.

00:37UN employees participated in the October 7th attacks, and Israeli hostages were held at

00:43UN facilities for months.

00:47The UN recently reappointed Francesca Albanese despite her repeatedly stated support for

00:55Palestinian resistance and regurgitation of anti-Israel blood libel.

01:03My question, Mr. Walz, is you clearly have your work cut out for you at the UN.

01:10Can you tell us more about how you plan to counter the anti-Semitic influence of UN officials

01:20like Ms. Albanese?

01:22Well, thank you, Senator, and I always enjoy our engagement as well and your advocacy for

01:32the America First agenda.

01:34Just to add a couple points to your list and then answer your question.

01:38It's notable that the military leader of Hamas, Mohamed Senwar, had an UNRWA badge on him

01:46in the tunnels of Gaza.

01:51There's indications that the World Health Organization and its hospitals, they knew that tunnels were

01:56being built underneath and knew that these hospitals were being used.

02:00I, and I have some of our veterans with you, have literally been shot at by terrorists hiding

02:07behind women and hiding behind children.

02:08And for Hamas to literally line the walls of its hideouts with hostages to protect its leadership

02:20of Israel.

02:21It is atrocious and it should be called out at every turn.

02:25Yet, we just had to veto a resolution in the Security Council that went after Israel in what

02:32is absolutely a horrific war and didn't even mention Hamas.

02:36And certainly didn't mention the fact that its leaders deliberately sacrifice, as a matter

02:40of strategy and tactics, deliberately sacrifice their own people in order to turn world opinion

02:48against Israel.

02:49So I think probably the easiest way to answer your question is sunlight is often the best

02:56disinfected.

02:57And to continue to spotlight it and use not only the platform that is this position, but I think

03:06one of the best communicators in the world, which is President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and

03:12the leadership in this administration to continue to call it out.

03:15Mr. Walts, thank you.

03:17And I'm grateful that you have moral clarity on this important issue.

03:25And certainly as somebody who, like yourself, served, you have served in special operations.

03:31These are not theoretical exercises for you.

03:33You've seen the conflict between good and between evil.

03:38We talked a bit about Central Asia yesterday, Mr. Walts.

03:41It's a vitally important region, rich in natural resources.

03:45As you mentioned, you've spent some time over there in your prior career.

03:51Much of those resources are untapped.

03:54And the region could be a valuable new partner for energy exports to Europe.

04:01The U.N., unfortunately, has pushed Central Asian countries to only adopt really a radical

04:06green agenda instead of a more balanced approach of all the above energy.

04:12And these radical green development goals could hinder the growth and success of developing

04:17countries like we see in Central Asia.

04:19Mr. Walts, how can you, as U.N. Ambassador, ensure that Central Asia is encouraged to take advantage

04:27of its vast and considerable energy resources to foster a more sustainable and a prosperous

04:34future?

04:35Yeah.

04:37Mr. Walts, I think you've got to take a look at the conversation and always learn a lot

04:40from them.

04:41One of the things that I admire about how President Trump approaches diplomacy, we saw it in his

04:47first Middle East trip, what I call commercial diplomacy.

04:51The thing that binds people together often is business.

04:54It transcends dogma.

04:56It transcends ancient ideologies.

04:59You're seeing that in the Abraham Accords.

05:01When people are talking about data centers and rail and roads, they're not talking about

05:05thousand-year-old hatreds.

05:08In Central Asia in particular, I mean, going back to the old TAPI pipeline, Turkmenistan,

05:13Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, one could only imagine if that had been in place.

05:18And now everyone has a common economic interest rather than fighting each other.

05:23I think we have real opportunities with Turkmenistan for the first time in a long time for their

05:29gas to head westward rather than eastward.

05:32We talked about the C5 grouping.

05:34We talked about Azerbaijan and their desire to not only come closer to the United States,

05:40but to perhaps put a real agreement in place with the Armenians, a real agreement in place

05:44with the Israelis, and the commercial opportunities that abound for not only for American business,

05:53but that will change the geopolitical landscape.

05:55And I look forward to working with you and those groupings within the U.N. along those

06:00lines under the present secretary's leadership.

06:02MR.

06:03Mr. Walz, thank you.

06:04MR.

06:06MR.

Steve Daines Presses Ambassador Nominee Mike Waltz On 'Anti-Israeli Sentiment' At United Nations

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