UN's security council votes against Israel's settlements, US refuses to veto...

[Phillip V]

How is Israel a partner?  When have they had our back?

They used to be wonderfully progressive, but now they're turning into a country of millennial crackpots and head cube wearing welfare cases.

The furtherance of health, wealth, and happiness.  The Arab countries export economic and social suffering.  I see no Jewish terrorists coming out of Israel anytime soon.

[DGuller]

They used to be wonderfully progressive, but now they're turning into a country of millennial crackpots and head cube wearing welfare cases.

One the one hand, I can't help but think that the Western left has really scored an own goal with Israel.  By refusing the consider the possibility that maybe standards for acceptable behavior should be different in a war zone as opposed to college campuses, they discredited the very notion that progressiveness is something to aspire to rather than a mortal danger.

On the other hand, it's hard to disagree with where we are.  Whatever the original reason, a really virulent strain has taken root in Israel, based on my personal observations, more so there than anywhere else.  I wonder whether the world is due for some radical realignment, with all the long-festering conflicts about to burst open and be settled with force.  In Israel, there will certainly be a "now or never" window to act decisively, if Trump proves to be as much of a madman as he promises to be.

[Berkut]

My support for Israel is pretty damn significant, but at some point Israel needs to figure out that they don't just get to take US support for granted.

They've basically told us to go fuck ourselves time and time again when it comes to listening to us on any substantive issues. So...well, fuck 'em. It sucks that they had to push it this far, but they did - they thought we would NEVER call their bluff.

Not that this is really calling much of a bluff, basically refusing to veto a rather perfectly reasonable UN resolution.

Basically, Israel is saying that the US should let them do literally anything they like, and we should protect them politically no matter what they do, or how we feel about the things they do, under basically all circumstances.

[dps]

How is Israel a partner?  When have they had our back?

They used to be wonderfully progressive, but now they're turning into a country of millennial crackpots and head cube wearing welfare cases.

The furtherance of health, wealth, and happiness.  The Arab countries export economic and social suffering.  I see no Jewish terrorists coming out of Israel anytime soon.

Not sending terrorists after us is a pretty low bar for "having our back".

Abstain from this resolution?  We should have joined everybody else in voting for it.  As Ambassador Power said, we've been telling the Israelis that the settlements are both illegal and counterproductive basically ever since they occupied the West Bank.

Fuck Israel on the settlements issues, and fuck President-Elect Trump and his foreign policy.

[Phillip V]

How is Israel a partner?  When have they had our back?

They used to be wonderfully progressive, but now they're turning into a country of millennial crackpots and head cube wearing welfare cases.

The furtherance of health, wealth, and happiness.  The Arab countries export economic and social suffering.  I see no Jewish terrorists coming out of Israel anytime soon.

Not sending terrorists after us is a pretty low bar for "having our back".

Abstain from this resolution?  We should have joined everybody else in voting for it.  As Ambassador Power said, we've been telling the Israelis that the settlements are both illegal and counterproductive basically ever since they occupied the West Bank.

Fuck Israel on the settlements issues, and fuck President-Elect Trump and his foreign policy.

What is "having our back" and why/when does America need it.

[Admiral Yi]

What is "having our back" and why/when does America need it.

You're the one who claimed Israel is a partner.  If by partner you mean they don't send terrorists over, we can move on to other points.

[Tonitrus]

If Israel were smarter, they'd have used the Russian/Crimea strategy back in '67.  Invade/occupy/formally annex, and let everyone forget about it within a few years.

[Phillip V]

If Israel were smarter, they'd have used the Russian/Crimea strategy back in '67.  Invade/occupy/formally annex, and let everyone forget about it within a few years.

Soon.  China and Russia's land grabs the next four years will provide plenty of cover and distraction.

[Admiral Yi]

If Israel were smarter, they'd have used the Russian/Crimea strategy back in '67.  Invade/occupy/formally annex, and let everyone forget about it within a few years.

Like everyone forgot about South Africa?  It's a terrible idea.  You just speed up the ethnic cleansing/apartheid/no more Jewish state issue.

[grumbler]

What is "having our back" and why/when does America need it.

Not blowing up our ships, and not selling our top-secret technologies to our enemies, would both be a good start.

Israel is generally friendly with the US and has graciously agreed to suck up $4+ billion a year in US aid (thus reducing the danger of a balanced US budget), but it does not have our back and never will, because it has some fundamental interests that clash with those of the US.

[grumbler]

If Israel were smarter, they'd have used the Russian/Crimea strategy back in '67.  Invade/occupy/formally annex, and let everyone forget about it within a few years.

That worked so well for them in the Baltic States that all the Baltic States are members of a military alliance hostile to Russia.

I don't think "everybody" forgets about things as quickly as you do.

[Josquius]

It's for Israel's own good.

[CountDeMoney]

Post Politics
Trump calls U.N. 'just a club for people' to 'have a good time'
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
December 26 at 9:42 PM

Three days after the United Nations adopted a resolution calling on Israel to halt Jewish settlement activity on Palestinian territory, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the international body "is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time."

The harsh criticism, which Trump made Monday while vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, signaled he would likely challenge more than just the 71-year-old institution's approach to the Middle East once he takes office.

    The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016

While Trump did not elaborate on why he considered the United Nations ineffectual, he made it clear both before and after the Security Council adopted the resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that he believed the United States should have blocked the move. President Obama instructed U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power to abstain from voting, on the grounds that the Israeli government's continued support for expanding Jewish settlements could undermine any prospect of eventually reaching a two-state solution to the simmering conflict.

After the Security Council voted Trump tweeted, "As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th," which is the day he will assume the presidency.

The United Nations has come under fire for years from critics on both the right and the left. Conservatives have attacked it for infringing on individual nations' sovereignty as well as wasting resources, while many developing nations argue that most major decisions remain dominated by a handful of countries that were influential when the United Nations was established decades ago. In recent years, some of its peacekeeping troops have been repeatedly accused of raping civilians they were sent to protect, and this August the office of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon formally acknowledged that Nepalese peacekeepers sent by the United Nations to Haiti six years ago contributed to a cholera outbreak there even as U.N. officials maintained they have legal immunity in connection to the epidemic.

But the United Nations continues to play a key role in helping deliver humanitarian assistance across the globe, brokering cease-fires during conflicts and serving as a forum for sprawling issues such as how best to address climate change. Obama has worked doggedly during his time in office to support multilateral institutions such as the United Nations. He has used his speech each year before the U.N. General Assembly as a way to lay out his vision for foreign affairs and has convened summits there to tackle questions that include the global refugee crisis and the fight against terrorism.

Earlier this month, the president stopped by to personally thank Ban for his work when the secretary general, who is stepping down at the end of the month, was meeting with national security adviser Susan Rice at the White House.

During a new conference last month, Obama emphasized that the United States must continue to play the leading role in maintaining "the basic framework of the world order" that was established after World War II.

"And I've said before, that's a burden that we should carry proudly," Obama said. "And I would hope that not just the 45th president of the United States, but every president of the United States understands that that's not only a burden, but it's also an extraordinary privilege. And if you have a chance to do that right, then you should seize it."

[The Larch]

The Jews Obama did it!

Israel threatens to give Trump 'evidence' that Obama orchestrated UN resolution

Netanyahu allies claim 'iron-clad information' from Arab sources reveals Obama administration drafted document to end settlements, which US abstained from


Israel has escalated its already furious war with the outgoing US administration, claiming that it has "rather hard" evidence that Barack Obama was behind a critical UN security council resolution criticising Israeli settlement building, and threatening to hand over the material to Donald Trump.

The latest comments come a day after the US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, was summoned by Netanyahu to explain why the US did not veto the vote and instead abstained.

The claims have emerged in interviews given by close Netanyahu allies to US media outlets on Monday after the Obama administration denied in categorical terms the claims originally made by Netanyahu himself.

However, speaking to Fox News on Sunday, David Keyes – a Netanyahu spokesman – said Arab sources, among others, had informed Jerusalem of Obama's alleged involvement in advancing the resolution.

"We have rather iron-clad information from sources in both the Arab world and internationally that this was a deliberate push by the United States and in fact they helped create the resolution in the first place," Keyes said.

Doubling down on the claim a few hours later the controversial Israeli ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, went even further suggesting it had gathered evidence that it would present to the incoming Trump administration.

"We will present this evidence to the new administration through the appropriate channels. If they want to share it with the American people, they are welcome to do it," Dermer told CNN.

According to Dermer, not only did the US not stand by Israel's side during the vote, it "was behind this ganging up on Israel at the UN".

On Monday, Trump tweeted his displeasure with the UN, dismissing it as "just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time".

Dermer is a controversial figure in Washington, blamed by the Obama administration for organising the invitation for Netanyahu to address the US Congress in the midst of Israel's campaign against the Iran nuclear deal.

His comments on CNN seem to represent an even more egregious breach of protocol, not least over the vague sourcing of the evidence alluded to by Keyes and Dermer.

Indeed, Israel was accused by unnamed US officials in a Newsweek article two years ago of "very sobering ... alarming ... even terrifying" levels of espionage targeting the US refuted as a " malicious fabrication aimed at harming relations" by then foreign minister Avigor Lieberman.

Last year, however, US officials again accused Israel of spying, this time on the Iran nuclear talks, with one telling the Wall Street Journal: "It is one thing for the US and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal US secrets and play them back to US legislators to undermine US diplomacy."

Dermer's threat on CNN to hand information to Trump would seem to replicate some of those concerns.

Israel's threat to present "evidence" on a sitting president, and one of Israel's closest ally, to an incoming presidential team – and to do it so publicly – appears almost unprecedented.

The moves appear part of a high risk – and even more highly partisan strategy – on Netanyahu's part, tying the future of Israel to a highly unpredictable Republican president-elect with no experience of public office and who comes from the very fringes even of the party he stood as candidate for.

The US has already denied the claim made by Israel in the strongest terms.

"We did not draft this resolution; we did not introduce this resolution. We made this decision when it came up for a vote," said Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in a statement on Friday.

But because of its opposition to settlement activity and concern for what it could mean for the region, the US "could not in good conscience veto", he added.

[FunkMonk]

If Israel were smarter, they'd have used the Russian/Crimea strategy back in '67.  Invade/occupy/formally annex, and let everyone forget about it within a few years.

Soon.  China and Russia's land grabs the next four years will provide plenty of cover and distraction.

False. Israel will be destroyed.