In Memory of Representative Eliot Engel

Press Release

April 13, 2026

Contact: Sarah Stern

sstern@emetonline.org

In Memory of Representative Eliot Engel

EMET mourns the passing of Representative Eliot Engel,(D-NY), whom to us was a long-term mentor and friend. When we first established EMET, he was very excited to see our organization get off the ground.

Representative Engel served as Representative from the Bronx in the Congress for 32 years, more than any other Congressman. He eventually became Chairman of the critically important on Foreign Affairs  Committee of the 116^th Congress, and had served as the  Ranking Member in the 113^th, 114^th and 115^th Congress. Besides that, he served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce and on many important caucuses.

Congressman Engel initially supported the “Peace Process” with Chairman Yassir Arafat, but as the years went on, he became more and more disillusioned with him. During the second intifada, he became increasingly more critical of Chairman Arafat, and accused him of starting the intifada, and failing to curb terrorism.  In one hearing he stated, “”The free nations of the world will not be pushed around by terrorist cowards whose goal is to spread fear and destruction and destroy our liberty and way of life.”

Congressman Engel was decidedly against the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran. He was one of only 25 Democrats to cote against the deal. In August 2015, he stated his opposition, saying “The answers I’ve received simply don’t convince me that this deal will keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands.”

Shortly after being elected, he wrote a Sense of the Congress Resolution saying that Jerusalem should always remain in Israel’s hands, and should be the undivided capital of Israel.

Eliot Engel also authored the Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act, a bill that was signed into law by President  George W. Bush on December 12, 2003.

In 2008, Representative Engel was the lead Democrat on a resolution condemning rocket attacks by Hamas into Israel.

Representative Engel was extremely supportive of the state of Israel and of the  establishment of EMET, stating “EMET is a perfect name for your organization, because Sarah always speaks the emes, the truth.”

Congressman Engel died at age 79. He will be surely missed.

Sarah N. Stern is Founder and President of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a think tank that specializes in the Middle East.