Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Alexa Gitler-Talk Radio News Service

A group of bipartisan Congressmen said Wednesday that they defended Israel’s right to protect its citizens against terrorist threats and denounced calls for the UN to conduct an external investigation into the May 31 incident involving the Gaza blockade.

“Support for Israel in this Congress and in this nation, is bipartisan, and we are here simply to speak with one voice to support Israel’s right to protect themselves as a sovereign democratic nation,” said Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY).

Engel, joined by Congressmen Ted Poe (R-TX), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (VA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Mike Pence (R-IN) and Pete King (R-NY), came to a consensus regarding America's involvement with Israel. The biparitsan group said that, collectively, the United States should stand with Israel and vigorously fight against the U.N. and their bias treatment towards Israel.

“We are here not only to urge this administration to veto any such resolution [from the UN directed towards Israel] but to stand up and speak up in opposition to such right now,” Cantor said.

Poe announced that a letter he co-authored with Representative Gary Peters (D-MI) was signed by 126 bipartisan Congressmen, including Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) and Minority Leader John Boehner (OH), and is being sent to President Barack Obama today.

“The U.S. must continue to stand by Israel and continue to use U.S. influence and, if necessary, veto power to prevent any biased or one-sided resolutions from passing [in the UN],” said Poe.

“The United States needs to do everything in its power to stand by our most reliable ally on the planet, the only democracy in a very dangerous part in the world,” Berkley said. "Stand as one with the state of Israel, that’s where our destiny lies, that' where we should be and that’s where we need to be."