Nita Lowey
Nita LoweyReuters

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), one of the most influential Jewish lawmakers, announced on Thursday she will not run for re-election to Congress next year.

In an announcement quoted by JTA, the 82-year-old lawmaker noted that she was the first woman to chair the House Appropriations Committee, the lower chamber’s most powerful committee, and included among her accomplishments upholding the US-Israel relationship.

“As the Chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee that writes the foreign aid bill, I have advanced record funding for women’s health and basic education — especially for girls — around the world, a strong U.S.-Israel relationship with bipartisan support, and other investments that support American interests abroad,” Lowey said.

Lowey is considered a pro-Israel stalwart and has, in recent years, criticized anti-Israel moves in the world.

In 2015, she was among a group of bipartisan lawmakers who introduced a resolution decrying the EU decision to label Jewish products from Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Also that year, she and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) urged the US ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to block the Palestinian Authority’s draft resolution claiming the Western Wall (Kotel) as its own.

She also condemned provocative declarations made by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, in which he emphatically declared that the PA is no longer committed to the 1994 Oslo Accords, while condemning Israeli "settlements" in Judea and Samaria.

Lowey opposed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran which was signed during the Obama administration and, in 2016, was among a group of American lawmakers who called on Obama to sanction Iran response to its tests of ballistic missiles.

Earlier this year, however, she was also among a group of four Democratic lawmakers who warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.