US House lawmakers issued a strong rebuke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump on Friday, passing a resolution opposing Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank and supporting a two-state solution.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu spoke to Trump about potentially annexing the Jordan Valley. Since March, the prime minister has vowed to annex the West Bank region and has recently intensified those calls as he remains in a fierce battle to maintain his grip on power.

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The nonbinding resolution, known as H.Res.326, calls on the Trump administration to “expressly endorse a two-state solution as its objective and discourage steps by either side that would put a peaceful end to the conflict further out of reach, including unilateral annexation of territory or efforts to achieve Palestinian statehood status outside the framework of negotiations with Israel.”

It passed Friday mostly on partisan lines — by a vote of 226-188-2 — with the overwhelming support of House Democrats and some Republicans.

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Representative Eliot Engel, the Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, recalled his longtime support of Israel and how he backed Trump’s shift of the US embassy to the holy city of Jerusalem. He also made clear that the resolution did not impose any conditions on the more than $3 billion in US military aid that goes to Israel each year.

But he said, in a choice turn of phrase, US security was being “trumped by decisions about our own political interests… Those of us that are strong supporters of Israel understand that Israel is best served by a two-state solution, that a two-state solution is good not only for Palestinians but also good for Jews,” Engel said on the House floor.

Democrats Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress who have gained notoriety for their strong criticisms of Israel, both opposed the resolution, as did the two other left-wing congresswomen dubbed “The Squad.” They objected that the resolution’s authors, in a bid to gain broad support, removed a call to end Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian land.

Five Republicans voted for the resolution.

“This resolution not only endorses an unrealistic, unattainable solution — one that Israel has made impossible — but also one that legitimizes inequality, ethnic discrimination and inhumane conditions,” said Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Squad member who is of Palestinian descent.

“We must take bolder actions to ensure that human rights are upheld in Israel and that Palestinians and Black Israelis are treated with the equality every human being deserves,” said Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American, on the House floor.

“With this vote, the majority of lawmakers have rejected the Trump administration’s embrace of the Israeli settlement movement’s agenda, which undermines US interests, imperils Israel’s future and tramples on Palestinian rights,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, [President of the liberal Jewish activist organization J-Street. . . .

At the organization’s national conference in October, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly voiced her support for the measure. And last week, 106 Democratic members of Congress sent US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a letter after he announced the United States would no longer consider the settlements in violation of international law.

The resolution was sponsored by Democratic representatives Alan Lowenthal of California, Karen Bass of California and Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

(Excerpt from The Times of Israel. Article by Eric Cortellessa.)