Charlie Crist Apologizes For Missing Vote On Israel

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — When the U.S. House voted 342-80 Thursday night to denounce last month’s United Nations Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, one of the resolution’s co-sponsors wasn’t on the House floor. St. Petersburg’s Charlie Crist failed to make it in time for the vote.

Crist, Florida’s former Republican governor, now a Democrat, issued a statement following that missed vote. It seems he fully intended to join the bipartisan majority in condemning the U.N.’s December action.

“As a cosponsor of this measure, I believe it is vital that the United Nations Security Council be sent a clear message that biased, one-sided resolutions targeting Israel are unacceptable and only make it more difficult for negotiations to resume between Israelis and Palestinians,” Crist said in a statement.

Security Counsel Resolution 2334 was approved on Dec. 23 when the United States abstained from voting and failed to veto the measure that essentially calls out Israel’s settlements as illegal. The U.N. Security Council’s 14-0 vote came despite staunch opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President-elect Donald Trump. Both called for the United States to exercise its veto power.

Thursday’s House measure is non-binding, but calls on the U.S. government to “oppose and veto future United Nations Security Council resolutions that seek to impose solutions to final status issues, or are one-sided and anti-Israel.” It also demands that the U.N. change or repeal the measure.

New York’s Rep. Eliot Engle, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also strongly supported Thursday’s resolution, which is seen as some as a rebuke against the outgoing Obama Administration.

Engle issued a statement on Crist’s behalf following the missed vote: "Charlie Crist is a great friend of Israel. One of his first acts as a member of Congress was cosponsoring legislation that condemned the UN's anti-Israel resolution, and I welcomed his support for that important measure. I look forward to continuing to work with Representative Crist to help strengthen the US-Israel relationship and advance other policy priorities.”

Crist further explained the missed vote during a Friday morning interview with the Tampa Bay Times. He told the paper he didn’t allot enough time to walk from his office to the House floor and was “detained” along the way, forcing him to miss the 7:05 p.m. vote.

Crist said he was sorry and that the lesson was learned.

“I have to give myself more time,” the Times quoted him as saying.

Photo from Rep. Charlie Crist's Facebook page