Stefanik meets with senators as Trump's UN ambassador nominee, touts 'American First peace through strength'

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., met with 10 senators in the first two days of meetings while courting approval as President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 

Stefanik, the current House GOP chair, communicated her record supporting Israel and combating antisemitism to Republican senators as the upper chamber must approve her appointment to Trump's Cabinet. 

Kicking off the road to confirmation, Stefanik met with Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., MarkWayne Mullin, R-Okla., Jim Banks, R-Ind., Tim Scott, R-S.C., Shelley Capito, R-W.Va., on Wednesday.

Then, on Thursday, Stefanik, the fourth-highest ranking House member, met with Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mt., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and John Barasso, R-Wyo. 

Stefanik posted photos of her meeting with each senator on X, saying their discussions centered around standing with Israel, combating antisemitism and supporting Trump's "America First peace through strength national security policies." 

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McConnell, the outgoing Senate majority leader, said in a statement that "the world’s largest international organization is in dire need of a wake-up call, and Representative Stefanik is uniquely well-suited to deliver it." 

"In a forum corrupted by authoritarians where cowardly majorities hector the embattled Jewish state of Israel, the next U.S. Ambassador must speak with uncompromising moral clarity," McConnell said. "I am particularly encouraged that the President-elect’s nominee shares my commitment to holding UNRWA accountable for its role in the horrors of October 7th and keeping U.S. taxpayer dollars clear of such vile complicity." 

"I look forward to the Senate’s timely consideration of Representative Stefanik’s nomination. I hope and expect she will be a proud proponent of an American foreign policy based on peace through strength," McConnell added. 

The meetings came at the same time the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for "crimes against humanity and war crimes," including the use of starvation as a method of warfare and targeting civilians. President Biden condemned the move as "outrageous," and the Pentagon said it "fundamentally rejects" the decision by the ICC, which "does not have jurisdiction over this matter." 

"Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas," Biden said. 

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Stefanik has been a staunch supporter of Israel as it continues its offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attacks, as well as other Iran-backed terrorist groups in the region. 

Last month, Stefanik demanded a "complete reassessment" of U.S. funding for the United Nations and called to stop financial backing for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). 

Biden had suspended funding to UNRWA after the agency fired several staffers in Gaza who Israeli authorities accused of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks. 

However, the congresswoman derided how the Biden-Harris administration "has sent over $1 billion to UNRWA since 2021, filling the coffers of this terrorist front." 

"This must end," Stefanik said in a statement on Nov. 4. "Just as President Trump did, and I have consistently advocated for, we must permanently cut off funding to UNRWA which instills antisemitic hate in Palestinians, houses weapons for terrorists, and steals the aid they are supposed to be distributing."

The United States contributes 22% of the United Nations budget, and therefore is the world body's largest single donor. 

Through her position on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Stefanik also has fought against surging antisemitism on American college campuses in the wake of Oct. 7 and held the presidents of Ivy League universities to account for failing to condemn calls for the genocide of Jews by anti-Israel protesters.