Murphy Discusses Iran, The West Bank, And Israel-Lebanon Relations At Nominations Hearing For Ambassador To Israel

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday spoke at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nomination of Jacob Lew to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.

On the violence in the West Bank and the capacity of the Palestinian Authority, Murphy asked: "There's been nightly clashes between security services and protesters. Settlers have attacked and destroyed Palestinian homes. Obviously, our greatest priority is holding Hamas accountable. But a close second is making sure that this crisis doesn't spread. How do you assess the Palestinian Authority's ability to maintain security in the West Bank? What's the path forward for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, in light of its pretty diminished and shattered credibility? And is it a continued policy priority for the United States to do the things necessary to support the administration of justice inside the West Bank?"

Murphy pushed back on Republicans' mischaracterization of U.S. sanctions policy on Iran established through the JCPOA : "It sounds like Iranian access to the U.S. financial system was never on the table as part of any deal. And even if it were, frankly, it was unlikely that any financial institution would have engaged in these transactions due to the very obvious compliance risk…So my understanding is that U.S. banks never facilitated transactions over compliance fears, and that the Iranians found this deeply frustrating, and in fact, threatened to pull out of their side of the agreement because they felt that we were being too tough in administering and holding to non-nuclear sanctions."

Murphy highlighted last year's historic agreement establishing a permanent Israel-Lebanon maritime boundary: "I just wanted to make sure that one of your priorities outside of the administration of this crisis and conflict is to continue to capitalize on the progress that has been made, remarkable progress between Israel and Lebanon to create this maritime border, [and] to use it as a foundation to try to continue to ease and normalize relationships between these two historic adversaries."

Murphy released a statement following his meeting with Lew on Tuesday. Last week, Murphy called for swift confirmation of key State Department officials in the Middle East, including Ambassador to Israel.

A full transcript of Murphy's exchange with Lew:

MURPHY: "Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I for one am damn glad we have a president who cares about bringing our hostages home. One of those individuals [in Iran] was a Connecticut resident with a lot of family in my home state. Their life has changed knowing that he is back home, and I'm thankful we have a president who cares about that. I'm proud of this committee for showing a real apolitical demonstration of support for Israel and an equally nonpolitical condemnation of Hamas' unspeakable acts of brutality. I want to thank the Chairman and the Ranking Member for leading us through the last week and a half. I want to thank you, Secretary Lew for your continued deep commitment to your country and your commitment to serve.

"I want to come back to this question of sanctions policy during the period of time that we were administering the JCPOA, and just make sure that I have it right. It sounds like Iranian access to the U.S. financial system was never on the table as part of any deal. And even if it were, frankly, it was unlikely that any financial institution would have engaged in these transactions due to the very obvious compliance risk.

"Iran was pretty upset about that and I'll just enter into the record, if I could, three articles from this period of time entitled: Iran, U.S. at odds over nuclear sanctions relief; Rouhani claims the U.S. is violating its commitments under the nuclear deal; Iran warns enduring sanctions threaten the nuclear deal."

CHAIRMAN: "Without objection. It'll be part of the record."

MURPHY: "So my understanding is that U.S. banks never facilitated transactions over compliance fears, and that the Iranians found this deeply frustrating, and in fact, threatened to pull out of their side of the agreement because they felt that we were being too tough in administering and holding to non-nuclear sanctions. Is that an accurate description?"

LEW: "It's certainly my recollection."

MURPHY: "Second, I want to talk to you about what's happening in the West Bank today. More than 58 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7. There's been nightly clashes between security services and protesters. Settlers have attacked and destroyed Palestinian homes. Obviously, our greatest priority is holding Hamas accountable. But a close second is making sure that this crisis doesn't spread.

"How do you assess the Palestinian Authority's ability to maintain security in the West Bank? What's the path forward for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, in light of its pretty diminished and shattered credibility? And is it a continued policy priority for the United States to do the things necessary to support the administration of justice inside the West Bank?"

LEW: "Senator, I have believed for a long time that if there's going to be any hope of a two state solution, one of the foundations of any stable entity is the ability to have a legal system and a security system in place. I was proud of the work we did over many years to build the training and the level of responsibility of Palestinian security forces. And my understanding is that that is resumed and that there's bipartisan support for that activity.

"It's really hard. It's really hard to build a stable force, and it requires sustained engagement. And if I'm confirmed as ambassador, building those institutions, is something that I will pay a great deal of attention to because I don't think you can have security and stability without a security force.

MURPHY: "I think it will be part of the work of this Committee and this Congress in the coming days as we try to put in place the prophylactic measures to stop the spread of this conflict to make sure that we're supporting the administration of the rule of law in Gaza, excuse me in the West Bank.

"Finally, I just want to ask you about a breakthrough agreement that got very little attention in the press, not as much as it should have. And this was the agreement between Israel and Lebanon on maritime rights. Obviously, our top priority now is preventing Hezbollah from opening up another front. But I just wanted to make sure that one of your priorities outside of the administration of this crisis and conflict is going to continue to capitalize on the progress that has been made, remarkable progress between Israel and Lebanon to create this maritime border, but to use it as a foundation to try to continue to ease and normalize relationships between these two historic adversaries."

LEW: It's pretty extraordinary that Israel has now indigenous natural gas resources, and that it's a source of the ability to partner with other countries in the region, to be able to help Europe through a crisis because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And I must say that when I was in government the last time, it was a flicker of a dream to get there. I remember when Israeli officials came over to observe an energy license auction, and my daughter who's sitting behind me was working at the Department of Interior and helped translate for them what was being said in English about energy auctions so they would understand it in Hebrew. And it's now a real resource. It's being developed. It's not without its controversy. The borders are controversial. Maritime issues are not my area of great expertise, but I will get up to speed on them very quickly, if confirmed."

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