WATCH: U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power on Israel, challenge of fake news

Video by PBS NewsHour

In an interview with the PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power defended the decision to abstain from a U.N. Security Council vote in December to condemn Israeli settlements, saying it did not negatively impact the U.S.-Israel relationship, but that “the building has to stop.”

“If a two-state solution stands a chance in allowing the people of Israel and Palestine to live in dignity side by side, the building has to stop, and the incitement has to stop, and the violence has to stop,” Power said.

She also addressed the global challenge of fighting fake news, saying American media needed to stand up against disinformation put forward by Russian media.

Video by PBS NewsHour

“Mainstream regular news media does tend to just repeat Russian claims as if they are fact,” she said, including claims about Russia’s military interventions in Syria. “It’s harder to do the pound the pavement reporting that is required to ascertain what’s factual. But we have to be very careful to not just throw in and create on the one hand, on the other hand, stories,” she said.