WASHINGTON — A top US Republican has assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the party, which romped in last week's elections, cherishes the allies' "special relationship," the lawmaker's office said Thursday.
Number-two House Republican Eric Cantor and Netanyahu also discussed Iran and the embattled Middle East peace process during an hour-long meeting late Wednesday in New York, the congressman's spokesman Brad Dayspring said in a statement.
Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the US Congress, "stressed that the new Republican majority will serve as a check on the administration and what has been, up until this point, one party rule in Washington," said Dayspring.
The lawmaker also "made clear that the Republican majority understands the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and that the security of each nation is reliant upon the other," said the spokesman.
Cantor also warned the Palestinians against going to the United Nations for recognition of their state if peace talks fail, saying a sturdy compromise "can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties."
The lawmaker said President Barack Obama's administration must "make it absolutely clear" that it will veto any such move by the Palestinians, said Dayspring.
Cantor also told Netanyahu that the Obama administration must "fully and aggressively implement" US sanctions on Iran over its suspect nuclear program, which Israel regards as an existential threat, said the spokesman.
"Further delay is not an option, and unless the administration continues to ratchet up the pressure on the Iranian regime, the progress made by the sanctions already implemented will unravel. Now is not the time to ease off the pressure," said Dayspring.
