Sen. Cruz Pulls Support for Bill After Senate Foreign Relations Committee Adds Language Pushing Palestinian Statehood and New Funding Amid Ongoing Palestinian Terrorism

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement after removing himself as co-sponsor from the Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021 after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee rewrote the bill to declare it is U.S. policy to push for a Palestinian state and implement authorizations to pour money into Palestinian areas:

"Too many American lawmakers have forgotten that Israel is one of our closest allies and a sovereign nation. Over the years, multiple administrations have pressured Israel to give up its sovereignty and its territories for a Palestinian state, an act not just of breathtaking hubris but which emboldened Palestinian terrorism. The Trump Administration ended those counterproductive policies by standing with Israel and turning off the spigot of money to the Palestinians subsidized terrorism. What followed was the historic success and peace of the Abraham Accords. The Biden Administration has reversed those successes and even banned the use of the phrase Abraham Accords. Until this week, Congress was making steady progress to advancing the Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021, which celebrated the spirit and letter of those Accords. I was a proud co-sponsor of that bill.

"Hours before the vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee radically changed the bill. The language added declared it would be ‘policy of the United States' to create a Palestinian state and to pour millions into Palestinian areas despite ongoing Palestinian government salaries for terrorists. I offered amendments to return the bill to its original bipartisan embrace of the Abraham Accords, but they were rejected.

"U.S. diplomats have no business telling our Israeli allies what to do with their territories, let alone pressuring them to cede sovereignty for a Palestinian state. We should not be subsidizing Palestinian terrorism. I have removed myself as a co-sponsor of the rewritten Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021, I voted against it today, and I will continue to oppose it."

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