Speaking Sunday, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez said that it was unacceptable for Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to continue refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “Notwithstanding any hopes we may harbor, one thing is certain, set in stone: President Abbas must recognize the Jewish state as a Jewish state without equivocation,” Menendez said.

In his speech at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, Menendez discussed Iran at length. “If past is prologue, I’m skeptical of Iran keeping its promises,” he said. “Based on the parameters described in the Joint Plan of Action, all I have heard in briefings, and recent Iranian actions— I am very concerned.”

“Make no mistake,” Menendez added. “While they are smiling at our negotiators across the table, they are plotting in the back room.”

Although a Democrat, Menendez said that when it came to defending Israel, he, and other Democrats, could be considered “conservative. “We are all conservative when it comes to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. We are all conservative when it comes to keeping the people of Israel safe and secure in their homes and within their borders.”