U.S. declines to veto U.N. Security Council resolution for Israel to stop Jewish settlement activity

All it means is that the people who introduced this resolution noticed that the current President's term ends in a month, so this was the window.

 

Netanyahu was on 60 Minutes last week. Interesting exchange about Israel's new alliances with their Arab neighbors vis a vis Iran:

Lesley Stahl: What about the silver lining? That because of this deal, you now have all this-- these better relationships with your neighbors.

Benjamin Netanyahu: Oh, well, that’s true. I would say- I will say this. The only good thing I can say about the deal with Iran is that it brought the Arab states and Israel closer together.


It’s the old proverb: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. On a trip to the desert town of Be’er Sheva, he told us there’s been a tectonic shift: it’s been reported that Israel and the Arab world are sharing intelligence.

Benjamin Netanyahu: All I can tell you is that Israel’s position in the Arab world has changed because they no longer see Israel as their enemy, but as their ally, in their indispensable battle against the forces of militant Islam, either those led by Iran, the Shiites, or-- and those led by Daesh – by ISIS, the militant Sunnis.

Lesley Stahl: We hear that you have dramatically improved your relationship with Egypt. Is that correct?

Benjamin Netanyahu: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: Jordan?

Benjamin Netanyahu: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: Saudi Arabia?

Benjamin Netanyahu: No comment.

Lesley Stahl: I have to ask you, because it’s the most fascinating of all: Israel and Saudi Arabia. Are you actually developing an anti-Iran alliance in the Middle East?

Benjamin Netanyahu: Doesn’t have to be developed. It’s there anyway...

...Lesley Stahl: Have any of the Arab states said they accept Israel as a Jewish state?

Benjamin Netanyahu: Yeah they say a lot of things in various forms.

Lesley Stahl: And never actually said they accept you.

Benjamin Netanyahu: Do they say it publicly at this point? Not yet.

He acknowledges that the Arab states want to see movement on the Palestinian issue. But despite Washington’s call for a halt, settlement expansion has continued, even after the U.S. gave Israel a $38 billion military aid package. Netanyahu and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas recently greeted each other at the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres. But the two have not held open, direct negotiations in over six years, for which they blame each other.

Lesley Stahl: What kind of a state is it going to be if you just, you know, don’t do anything?

Benjamin Netanyahu: I’m not going to just not do anything. I’m going to do something.

Lesley Stahl: Well, if you don’t negotiate with the Palestinians—

Benjamin Netanyahu: Well, I’m willing to negotiate with them at any moment.

Lesley Stahl: And if it doesn’t happen?

Benjamin Netanyahu: I haven’t reversed my position. I’ve said, “Look, we will solve this because we want two nation states at peace and with the proper security arrangements.

Lesley Stahl: You would be pushing for a two-state solution if that—

Benjamin Netanyahu: Two states for two peoples. And that’s where I’m focused. Yeah, I’d like to have President Trump, when he gets into the White House, help me work on that. I’d like to see if the Arab states can help me achieve that. It’s a new reality. A new possibility.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-benjamin-netanyahu-us-israel-relations-donald-trump/

 

Anti-semitic acts tend to embolden Israel, not weaken it.

 

So any criticism of Israel is anti-semitic. Got it.

Many secular Israelis have an issue with it being identified as a "Jewish" state. Especially with such a large Arab muslim population under Israeli control. It's a very exclusionary concept.

 

This is basically the UN

 

Actually, in this case, we are acting in israel's best interest. Their settlements are locking them into an impossible situation. What kind of friend helps his friend buy more meth when he's already a meth addict?

 

Every friend I've ever had?

But I digress. You're right. Not every nation that voted for this can be labeled anti-semitic by the semitic-sensitive out there. Israel legitimately does some counter-productive shit to keep their Palestinian citizens and neighbors mad at them. Bibi has it down to a science.

 

Ruh roh...Principal Netanyahu calling in US ambassador and 10 other countries into the office over UN vote. Bibi no likey.

 

Dont conflate Likud policy with 'Israel'. Likud is the current coalition majority partner. There is a vibrant political opposition which contradicts Likud.

 

Wow, if the US not vetoing the resolution is an "anti-Semitic act" what does that say about the governments of the UK, France, Japan, and Spain, who voted affirmatively on the resolution? Or if New Zealand, who sponsored the resolution? I assume that you've been demanding that the USA sever our collective defense treaties with those five allies, given that their foreign policy is apparently driven by anti-Semitism.

Of course, I doubt that you actually think that the governments of the UK, France, Britain, Spain, and New Zealand have foreign policies built on anti-Semitism. I doubt that your post involved much thinking at all.

 

Bibi is a dick and bully. The goal for Israel is to seize so much land with their settlements that they can then say they can't move them and throw away the two state proposal, they never wanted.

 

Bibi is a racist warmonger who hates Obama. He'll get along great with Trump.

 

Imagine the Israeli ambassador being summoned on Yom Kippur for a dressing-down over the settlements in the occupied territories. The outcry in Israel would be echoing off every wall.

The current Israeli administration is totally out of control. The kind of entitlement and disrespect shown to its closest ally (one that just waived through USD 38 billion in military aid) is simply astounding. Even the staunchest Israel supporter should pause for a moment and question this nearly unconditional level of support.

Until then the tail will continue wagging the dog.

 

Bibi is aligned with Republicans so dissing the Kenyan communist like he's an insignificant political hack comes natural. It's racism mostly.

 

Yeah remember they invited him to speak to Congress. It was unpresidented

 

Yep. And he gleefully accepted.

Like having your sponging son in law show up on Thanksgiving, take your chair and eat both turkey legs.

 

That 38 billion is pork for the American military industrial complex, we give it to them (and Egypt/others) and they turn around and buy our military equipment.

 

Israel had been the only exception in that they could use a large proportion on domestic arms. Supposedly the new arms deal goes back to the buy-American requirement but I doubt that requirement stays around.

 

ASF, the UN does that, every day. For example, the World Food Program, Food and Agricultural Organization, and International Fund for Agriculture work together to address different parts of the food and hunger continuum. The World Health Organization leads efforts against disease, with groups such as the Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS and others in support of specific diseases.

The Security Council's job is peace and security, and this includes mediating in regional disputes. It has the right given it by member states to pass either binding or non-binding resolutions (the latter essentially a strong recommendation) that put pressure on states to adhere to behaviors which promote peace. In this case, the commitment to a two-state solution stretches back to 1967, and the borders related thereto, has been a major push by the Palestinians and their allies, which now include many western states. The expansion of the settlements in what was agreed to as territory belonging to an independent Palestine is more than a little problematic for the prospects for peace, and that expansion has sped up under the current administration.

I don't write this to endorse the resolution, but to provide some context for it. The US has vetoed many Security Council resolutions which targeted Israel - ten since 2000 (including the only one to be proposed since the Obama administration was in power) and 17 more since 1985. We have always argued that something that carried equal weight on the responsibility of the Palestinians alongside any condemnation of Israel was needed, but not there, and the administration indicated that belief this time.

We did not vote in favor of this resolution; rather, we did not veto it.

I am not sure how many people have read the document as opposed to just reading about it; it's only three pages, and you can read it here.

 

We vetoed a similar measure in 2011. What has changed?

 

You can read that one, too, here - the main difference in wording is that the one this year includes condemnation of terrorism, and that one did not. The former was focused almost entirely on Israel although it did mention the roadmap to peace and the commitments made by the quartet in 2003. Then again you also have a vastly expanded settler network, with the Netanyahu's government committed to the process and a total of more than 400,000 people now living in those territories.

Which really means it's too late. The process is irrevocable. This is what makes it both not surprising that we didn't veto it, and not worth the trouble to have done so and generated the angst that has followed. We shifted the status quo for a political point that may be valuable, but is neither sustainable nor, I figure, longlasting.

 

Seems to me not much has changed, which brings up the question "why did Barry stir the pot 25 days before riding into the sunset?"