{"id":3215,"date":"2012-11-29T17:16:32","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T22:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/?p=3215"},"modified":"2012-11-29T17:21:18","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T22:21:18","slug":"jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html","title":{"rendered":"Jay Sekulow: UN Vote Backing PA Threatens Israel & Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We knew it would be an uphill battle at the United Nations. The UN today voted<\/a> to give the terrorist-led Palestinian Authority (PA) “non-member observer state” status.<\/p>\n

As we have said from the beginning, such a move is deeply flawed and violates international law<\/a>. By upgrading the status of this terrorist-led organization, the UN is setting the stage for more instability in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

We have also presented a\u00a0detailed legal analysis<\/a> of this vote – a move that is intended to divide Jerusalem and put Israel at greater risk.<\/p>\n

I want to thank all of those who stood with us and stood with Israel on this issue – including the 130,000 Americans who signed our petition<\/a> online.<\/p>\n

While today’s vote is a disappointment, it is not unexpected. We know that the PA has been working for years to implement a strategy to gain worldwide recognition and to generate as much opposition as possible to the state of Israel and the Jewish people.<\/p>\n

We are already preparing for the next fight. Don’t think for a moment that the PA is satisfied with this new\u00a0 “non-member observer state” status. They will use this vote to march forward – to push for complete UN member state status – giving this terrorist-led group broader reach and influence.<\/p>\n

What’s even more troubling is the fact that this UN vote opens the door for more false war crimes trials against Israeli citizens.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, I stood before the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in defense of Israel and two soldiers who that were falsely accused of war crimes. We successfully got the ICC to dismiss those false charges, in part because Palestine was not a state as recognized by the UN. We must make sure Palestine never achieves full member state status at the UN.<\/p>\n

I’ve asked our legal teams in Jerusalem, New York and Washington to re-double our efforts on this vital issue. We will continue to defend Israel and to support Israel. Today’s UN vote only underscores the need to keep up this fight – to continue to oppose a Palestinian state – to prevent a divided Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> said the vote does “not change anything on the ground. It will not further the establishment of a Palestinian state, but will make it more distant.”<\/p>\n

The one-sided resolution approved by the UN, Netanyahu said, doesn’t advance peace – it pushes it backward. “No force in the world will get me to compromise on Israel’s security,” said Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

In the words of the Prime Minister: “No decision by the UN can break the four thousand year old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.”<\/p>\n

Very true.<\/p>\n

Jay Sekulow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We knew it would be an uphill battle at the United Nations. The UN today voted to give the terrorist-led Palestinian Authority (PA) “non-member observer state” status. As we have said from the beginning, such a move is deeply flawed and violates international law. By upgrading the status of this terrorist-led organization, the UN is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[62,760,759,761,79,721,370],"class_list":["post-3215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-palestinian-authority","tag-peace","tag-plo","tag-statehood"],"yoast_head":"\nJay Sekulow: UN Vote Backing PA Threatens Israel & Peace - Faith & Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jay Sekulow: UN Vote Backing PA Threatens Israel & Peace - Faith & Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We knew it would be an uphill battle at the United Nations. The UN today voted to give the terrorist-led Palestinian Authority (PA) “non-member observer state” status. As we have said from the beginning, such a move is deeply flawed and violates international law. By upgrading the status of this terrorist-led organization, the UN is…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith & Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-29T22:16:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-29T22:21:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2011\/08\/1056179721-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jay Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jay Sekulow: UN Vote Backing PA Threatens Israel & Peace - Faith & Justice","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jay Sekulow: UN Vote Backing PA Threatens Israel & Peace - Faith & Justice","og_description":"We knew it would be an uphill battle at the United Nations. The UN today voted to give the terrorist-led Palestinian Authority (PA) “non-member observer state” status. As we have said from the beginning, such a move is deeply flawed and violates international law. By upgrading the status of this terrorist-led organization, the UN is…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html","og_site_name":"Faith & Justice","article_published_time":"2012-11-29T22:16:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-11-29T22:21:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2011\/08\/1056179721-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Jay Sekulow","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html","name":"Jay Sekulow: UN Vote Backing PA Threatens Israel & Peace - Faith & Justice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2011\/08\/1056179721-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2012-11-29T22:16:32+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-29T22:21:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#\/schema\/person\/fd4c384af0620d4b82ae09cf1d77bdb4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2011\/08\/1056179721-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithandjustice\/files\/2011\/08\/1056179721-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/2012\/11\/jay-sekulow-un-vote-backing-pa-threatens-israel-peace.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jay Sekulow: UN Vote Backing PA Threatens Israel & Peace"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/","name":"Faith & Justice","description":"Jay Sekulow - ACLJ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/#\/schema\/person\/fd4c384af0620d4b82ae09cf1d77bdb4","name":"Jay Sekulow","description":"Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that focuses on constitutional law. He is also Chief Counsel of the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ). Jay Sekulow is one of the leading defenders of constitutional rights and religious liberties in the United States. Over the past 25 years, Jay Sekulow has amassed an unparalleled record of accomplishment, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court on 12 occasions. His aggressive litigation strategy before the Supreme Court has led to many landmark First Amendment victories. In his first case before the Supreme Court, Jews for Jesus, Jay Sekulow secured the right of religious groups to pass out tracks in airports. In Mergens, Jay Sekulow successfully protected the right of students to form Bible clubs and prayer groups on public school campuses. In Lamb\u2019s Chapel, Jay Sekulow cleared the way for churches to have equal access to public facilities in the same way that other groups are permitted to utilize those facilities. In the Bray and Operation Rescue cases, Jay Sekulow protected the free speech rights of pro-life advocates to be free from criminal prosecution for conveying their pro-life message. In McConnell v. FEC, Jay Sekulow protected the right of young people to engage in the political process by donating to the campaign of their choice. In Pleasant Grove, Jay Sekulow paved the way for governments to be able to display Ten Commandments monuments, and other monuments of their choosing, in public parks. Through the ACLJ, Jay Sekulow engages the political, legal, and cultural battles facing America today. He routinely works with Members of Congress, advising them on proposed legislation and representing them in critical legal matters. Jay Sekulow has also testified before Congress on the constitutionality of proposed legislation. Also, in addition to being a successful Supreme Court advocate, Jay Sekulow is a highly respected broadcaster. Jay Sekulow is the host of Jay Sekulow Live! which airs each weekday on over 850 radio stations nationwide, in addition Sirius and XM satellite radio. He brings insight and education to listeners daily through this national call-in radio program. He is also the host of the ACLJ This Week, the ACLJ\u2019s weekly television program. Jay Sekulow regularly appears on major media outlets, including FOX News, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC, where he is sought out for his vast experience in constitutional law and his unique insight into many of the pressing legal and political issues facing America today. He is frequently quoted in the nation's leading newspapers and often contributes opinion editorials to national publications. Jay Sekulow has also published numerous law review and other scholarly articles. Jay Sekulow has received numerous honors for his groundbreaking legal work in the area of free speech and religious liberties. The Legal Times has named Sekulow one of \u201cThe 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years\u201d and the National Law Journal has twice named Sekulow one of the \u201c100 Most Influential Lawyers\u201d in the United States. In addition, TIME Magazine listed Jay Sekulow as one of the \"25 Most Influential Evangelicals\" in America. Jay Sekulow\u2019s legal work in defense of religious liberties and human rights extends beyond the United States, having founded the ECLJ in Strasbourg, France, which maintains consultative status with the United Nations. He has also opened offices in Pakistan, Africa, and Jerusalem, Israel. Jay Sekulow is a staunch defender of Israel, presenting arguments before the International Criminal Court at the Hague. His efforts in support of Israel\u2019s right to defend itself from terrorist attacks have been commended by Israeli government officials, one official stating, \"Jay was instrumentally-involved in projects that the President of Israel and the Prime Minister put on our national agenda.\" Jay Sekulow also has a passion for educating the next generation of religious liberty advocates. He is a member of the Regent University Law School Faculty as a Distinguished Professor of Law and routinely teaches courses on constitutional law and presents guest lectures. Jay Sekulow has also started educational programs in international human rights law in Strasbourg, France and at Handong University in South Korea. Jay Sekulow is a graduate of Mercer University, earning both a bachelor\u2019s degree and doctor of jurisprudence. Sekulow served on the editorial staff of the Mercer Law Review and graduated cum laude. He later earned a Ph.D. from Regent University, writing his dissertation on American Legal History. Jay Sekulow also serves on the Board of Trustees for The Supreme Court Historical Society in Washington, D.C. Jay Sekulow, ACLJ Chief Counsels full biography and video. Jay Sekulow on Facebook. Jay Sekulow on Twitter. Jay Sekulow on YouTube.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/author\/jay_sekulow"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3215"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3222,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions\/3222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithandjustice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}