Democratic Senator Murphy condemns Israel’s plan to expand settlements

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy condemns Israel’s plan to legalize nine outposts and advance projects for some 10,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank.

While the White House has been quick to condemn the measures, Murphy is one of the first members of congress to do so and appears to go further in his criticism than the administration did.

“This appears to be just the beginning of a policy of unprecedented expansion of settlements explicitly intended to expand Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state,” says Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism.

“I am worried that the implementation of these extreme policies will make it increasingly difficult to maintain the broad bipartisan consensus that has sustained Israel’s security for over 70 years,” he adds.