Bolton: Obama Rejected Israel Resolution to 'Box Trump In'

Newsmax  "The United States could have killed a key United Nations resolution that condemned Israel for its West Bank settlements by voting against it rather than abstaining, former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Friday night, but he thinks President Barack Obama took the action to "box the incoming Trump administration in."

" 'This was a stab in the back against the Israelis," Bolton told Fox News' "Hannity" show Friday night. "It was entirely predictable. I would say this for people in the pro-Israel community in the United States who defended Obama's Middle East policy over these last eight years: You should have seen this coming and this is what you get for supporting Barack Obama."  

"Obama has had a contentious relationship with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the years, Bolton conceded, but he thinks the administration's decision to abstain from the UN vote on Friday goes deeper than that.

" "I think this was an effort to box the in-coming Trump administration in, and it violates nearly 50 years of American bipartisan policy on the Middle East, going back to the iconic resolution 242 after the 1967 war." 

"The proposed resolution says Israel's occupation is "illegitimate," said Bolton, and "therefore it has no land to give back in exchange for peace. Contrary to what the Obama administration has said, this puts a huge thumb on the scale against Israel.' " . . .

What I learned about Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson after spending a week on jury duty with him

Dallas News  . . . "But during a recent news show, I heard the term "corrupt" applied to this man who I spent five days with back in 2007.

"All I know is that this man who holds one of the most powerful positions in the world and clearly has the means and ability to side-step his jury responsibilities, served as a normal citizen without complaint or pretense.

"I know that a scared little girl who was finally persuaded to come public with her account of abuse was inches away from a decision that would have sided with her abuser, yet this man put his negotiation skills to a noble use, and justice was served." 

Emily Roden is a small-business owner in Denton. This essay was adapted from a post that first appeared at rodenfordenton.com. 

Commentaries on Obama's betrayal of Israel

As I imagine the left might say, "Sure Obama's a petulant, vindictive man-child, but he's our petulant, vindictive man-child." 
The very same spite we saw when Obama spent millions to block off even open-air memorials during the government shutdown with the command to "make it hurt".    The Tunnel Dweller.

Obama’s UN betrayal of Israel is only the tip of the iceberg

. . . "As for the Muslims: One does not blame a lunatic for being crazy. It is futile to reason with them. It was the West that failed this time, not just Obama.

"And if Israel wants to build more Jewish communities, then go ahead. Just stop any facade about working within the Oslo two-state framework, and offer an alternative.

"In plain terms, if Israel wants Judea and Samaria, then annex it, not just area C, disband the PA, and present options which are acceptable to the West. Stop waffling.

"The problem is more than Obama."

There is a culture in the so-called "civilized west" that is a breeding ground for Israel hatred:

Hate spaces: Tour de force documenting Students for Justice in Palestine, anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism on campus.From Legal Insurrection:   “Hate Spaces: The Politics of Intolerance on Campus”, a new 70 minute documentary recently Legal Insurrection: released by the organization Americans for Peace and Tolerance, chronicles the rampant anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activism prevalent on many of America’s institutions of higher learning.

More on the anti-Israel breeding ground:

The UN Israel vote: Teaches much, changes nothing (and affects everything). . . " President-Elect Trump has been a friend of Israel and of Jews all his life.  He has been awarded for his friendship, has been a grand marshall of an Israel Day Parade, has donated to Bet El.  He surrounds himself with Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews who are deep and committed friends of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.  His front-line non-Jewish supporters, including Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Dr. Ben Carson, Steve Bannon, and others are huge supporters of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and they all support moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Mr. Trump is very close with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and he deeply admires scrappy, strong men who do not back down in the face of adversity." . . .

Obama’s appalling UN betrayal  . . . "It was a shocking betrayal of a firm US ally, and of longstanding bipartisan US policy — a sneaky, dishonest move by a lame-duck president to express his pique at the president-elect and land a final vindictive blow on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"In the process, he sought to tie his successor’s hands in a way that no past president — especially his own predecessor, George W. Bush — has ever before done." . . .

WaPo: Obama’s abstention at UN was “a dangerous parting shot” at Israel  . . . "It’s difficult to see this stunt at the UN as anything more than a final, impotent, petulant tantrum. This was Obama’s final opportunity to humiliate Netanyahu regardless of the danger it might present to Israelis. It’s one last shameful act in a series from this administration, and it can’t hit the exits fast enough."

Jerusalem Post: Analysis: Israel waiting for Trump, hoping Obama's legacy will be wiped out  . . . "However, he decided to do so at the last minute, in a move that seems like personal revenge on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just before he exits, leaving the incoming administration to deal with the chaos on the ground." . . .
"However, this is also a slap in the face directed at President-elect Donald Trump and an attempt by Obama to force his policy on him.
"And Jerusalem is furious." . . .

Caroline Glick, Israeli commentator and veteran of the IDF expressed this opinion on Friday: . . . "The opening act of Obama’s onslaught on Israel came on Wednesday, with State Department Spokesman John Kirby’s fatuous and unprecedented claim that Israeli communities built beyond the 1949 armistice line – the so-called settlements – are illegal." . . . Even the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem!

Krauthammer’s Take: Abstention on Anti-Israel Vote a Disgrace: ‘U.S. Joined the Jackals at the U.N.’  "Krauthammer’s Take: Abstention on Anti-Israel Vote a Disgrace: ‘U.S. Joined the Jackals at the U.N.’ "

"Obama’s Disgraceful and Harmful Legacy on Israel Friday’s United Nations resolution is the administration’s final swipe at the Jewish state. Elliott Abrams"  . . . "Now add this wording to the previous line and it means that even construction in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City is “a flagrant violation under international law.” The resolution also “calls upon all States, to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.” This is a call to boycott products of the Golan, the West Bank, and parts of Jerusalem, and support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement." . . .

Obama appears to have turned Israel into another South Africa and Mahmoud Abbas into another Nelson Mandela.

Obama’s Shameful Parting Shot at Israel

"Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office," said the Reverend during a 2009 interview.

"Them Jews", he said.

Andrew C. McCarthy: Obama’s Betrayal of Israel Is a Black Day for American Diplomacy

It is Islamist-leftist dogma that Israel’s millennia of attachment to its homeland count for nothing.

 "Adding a final shameful chapter to a foreign-policy record that already runneth over with them, Barack Obama on Friday abandoned America’s commitment to Israel’s security, and to the vindication of democracy over sharia-supremacist aggression. In an act of cowardly venom, the president had the United States abstain from — and thereby effectively enact — a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemns Israeli settlement activity. 

"At least, that’s what the resolution ostensibly does. The reality is much more than that. The resolution undertakes to render our ally indefensible." . . .

"The resolution adopted on Friday does so much more than merely condemn “settlement activities.” It says such activities must cease in “occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” For good measure, it adds that the construction of settlements on territory that Palestinians covet — and that Israel righteously controls — has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.' ”
Read more

Obama’s Shameful Parting Shot at Israel  . . . "The administration’s fecklessness has harmed Israel, endangers ordinary Israelis, and hurts the elusive quest for an enduring peace. Moreover, the Trump administration is powerless to revoke the resolution: It would have to introduce and pass a new resolution, and either Russia or China would be sure to veto it. Thus, Israel will find itself at the bargaining table in any future peace negotiation with Palestinian territorial demands backed by the U.N.’s most powerful body. By declaring that settlements — including “settlements” in Israel’s capital — violate international law, the resolution purports to carve into stone the armistice lines that existed at the end of Israel’s war for independence." . . .  Read more

Obama's church pastor, whom the Obamas were taught by for twenty years, taught much about his opinion of Israel.

Obama's mentor served as an adviser to the anti-Semitic Global March to Jerusalem.  "On March 30th, the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ), an attempt to mobilize millions of demonstrators aimed at converging on the state of Israel and inevitably breaching its borders, took place. Joining the likes of Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Mavi Marmara flotilla veterans, were the inevitable horde of useful idiots from the West, including British anti-Semite George Galloway, anti-war Bush-basher Cindy Sheehan, Truther conspiracy advocate Richard Falk, and radical race theorist Cornel West. Yet it was one of the movement's "official advisers" whose name stood out: president Obama's former spiritual advisor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright."

Jeremiah "them Jews" Wright, to be specific.

For Obama and Netanyahu, a Final Clash After Years of Conflict

First, over the last eight years Mr. Obama showed his contempt in ways like these:

2010: Obama snubbed Netanyahu for dinner with Michelle and the girls, Israelis claim  "The snub marked a fresh low in US-Israeli relations and appeared designed to show Mr Netanyahu how low his stock had fallen in Washington after he refused to back down in a row over Jewish construction in east Jerusalem."

2012: Obama’s Back-door Diplomacy  "His treatment of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu stands as the absolute lowest point in the diplomatic history of this nation. Obama’s overt disrespect was planned. He had Israel’s top diplomat brought into the White House by the back door. He not only didn’t treat this nation’s guest in the manner reserved for heads-of-state, that would include a State Dinner – he intentionally let Netanyahu cool his heels, making him wait until it became obvious that this was an intended slight."

2012: White House scrambles to contain controversy over Netanyahu snub claims  . . . "The seemingly chilly response to Netanyahu was already being interpreted as a snub among Israel’s biggest defenders -- and it comes amid a state of heightened alert over Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of Israeli action."

2015: Israel: Beware of Obama . . . "Against the backdrop of the tsunami of trouble he has unleashed, Obama’s pledge to “reassess” America’s relationship with Israel cannot be taken lightly. Already paving the way for an Iranian nuke, he is hinting he’ll also let the other anti-Semites at Turtle Bay have their way."

The previous was for context, but now the main NY Times story:

NY Times 

"When President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met in September for the last time before Mr. Obama leaves office, the session was marked by forced smiles and strained jokes about playing golf in retirement, as if bygones were bygones after nearly eight years of clawing conflict.

"Of course it was never going to end that way. How could it? The narrative of the tense and tetchy relationship between liberal president and conservative prime minister instead reached a climax in a hyper­politicized showdown over war, peace, justice, security, human rights and, at last, the very meaning of international friendship.

"Mr. Obama’s decision on Friday not to block a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements laid bare all the grievances the two men have nursed since shortly after they took office in 2009. For Mr. Netanyahu, it was the final betrayal by a president who was supposed to be an ally but never really was. For Mr. Obama, it was the inevitable result of Mr. Netanyahu’s own stubborn defiance of international concerns with his policies.

"The two sides did little to hide their mutual contempt. After talks led them to conclude that Mr. Obama would not veto the resolution, as presidents of both parties have done in the past, Israeli officials essentially washed their hands of the incumbent and contacted his successor in the wings. President ­elect Donald J. Trump promptly put out a statement calling on Mr. Obama to veto the resolution." . . .

Western nations may have finally had enough of the slaughter.

2016: A TURNING POINT FOR EUROPE?

Bruce Bawer

"For Western Europe, 2016 began with an apocalyptic frenzy, a nightmarish vision of its possible future – namely, an avalanche of brutal sexual assaults, over a thousand of them, committed on New Year's Eve by savage Muslim gangs in the streets and squares of Cologne and several other major German cities.

"The horrific events of New Year's Eve didn't happen out of the blue, of course. For over a generation, thanks to irresponsible immigration policies that had never been submitted for approval to any electorate, as well as to straightforward demographic realities, Western Europe had been steadily Islamized. At first in a few large cities and eventually even in small, remote towns, the presence of Islam became more and more visible. Over time, government officials who had made these developments possible, and who had cut back their own citizens' welfare-state entitlements in order to feed, clothe, and house newly arrived Muslims, were rewarded not with the gratitude and assimilation they had expected but with the exact opposite. Steadily, Muslim communities developed into crime-ridden, sharia-governed enclaves, increasingly explicit in their hostility to infidels, increasingly aggressive in their rejection of the values of their host cultures, and increasingly insistent on their legal independence from secular authorities. Forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and honor killing became European problems. Hijab proliferated, then (in some places at least) niqab. And authorities reacted to all of it with a feckless passivity." . . .

Curiously, the Western and Liberal US compassion has not extended to Christians from Islamic countries who have been victims of Islamic terror.

Yet, in a US school, this was part of the text in a world history worksheet: “The Christians’ harsh treatment of Muslims in the Holy Land led to bitterness that has lasted to the present,” one worksheet stated."

'This is a purely religious threat, which turned into reality. Such hatred! When will the U.S., and all countries, fight back?' Trump asked  . . . " 'The terrorist who killed so many people in Germany said just before crime, "by God's will we will slaughter you pigs, I swear, we will slaughter you,"' Trump wrote."

This petulant, vindictive juvenile president strikes again

Cartoons added by TD

Obama Administration Betrays An Ally to the Repugnant U.N.

"The Obama administration defied the wishes of Prime Minister Netanyahu and President-elect Donald Trump.

"Democrats are the so-called friends of Israel and they just lodged a major rebuke of our only Democratic ally in the region. It was a condemnation of their right to exist.

"The U.S. allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israel’s settlements, which are simply apartment building or homes in their own country, in their own real capitol of Jerusalem.

"The U.N. Security Council called settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law.

"The only thing that is flagrant is what Obama just did. Thankfully, Hillary didn’t win because she said she would do the same thing." . . .

Defying extraordinary pressure from President-elect Donald J. Trump and furious lobbying by Israel", "... the Obama administration on Friday allowed the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction," the NYT reports.

The administration’s decision not to veto the measure.... broke a longstanding American policy of serving as Israel’s sturdiest diplomatic shield at the United Nations....

 The vote came a day after Mr. Trump personally intervened to keep the measure, proposed by Egypt, from coming up for a vote on Thursday, as scheduled. Mr. Trump’s aides said he had spoken to Mr. Netanyahu. Both men also spoke to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Egypt postponed the vote.

From the comments to this Althouse post:

Static Ping said...
I want to thank Obama for confirming permanently that voting for Trump was the correct decision.

Chuck said... Last night on Fox, Alan Dershowitz made the case that this Obama decision could be damaging for years or decades into the future, without any chance (or much chance) for a President Trump to reverse it. It is a UN resolution; it isn't any old executive order. Trump can't do a new UN resolution with a stroke of his pen. Dershowitz also made the case that even a president-elect Hillary Clinton would have been calling Obama this week and begging him to not take this step.
I'm no Israel expert; not even close. But this might be the most anti-Israeli thing that Obama has ever done, in an eight-year run of anti-Israeli things.

 M Jordan said...Netanyahu is the only world leader who didn't bow down and worship our man-child president. Obama waited until the curtain was closing on Act 5 to take a dump on him.

 Unknown said...Well, they said that if I voted for Trump that we would have a racist, anti-semitic president who would stab Israel in the back!
And they were right!

 Michael The Magnificent said...Dear American Jews, please pay attention to who treats you like a friend, and who doesn't.

 

Santa’s Hacked Emails

spectator.org

Change.Org Petition Looks To Guilt The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Out Of Performing At Inauguration

RedState  "The thing about some of those Change.org petitions is that anybody can start them and sometimes the causes they back are ridiculous.

"A case in point would be the recent Change.org petition to stop the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from performing at Donald Trump’s inauguration.

"From the Hill:

The Change.org petition has accumulated more than 6,500 signatures since it was created Thursday.

“We, as signers of this petition, believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ [(LDS)] decision to allow the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to perform at the upcoming presidential inauguration of Donald Trump DOES NOT reflect the values of Mormonism and does not represent its diverse 15+ million members worldwide,” the petition states.

“We also believe that an official LDS organization performing at a presidential inauguration gives the perception that the LDS Church and its diverse 15+ million members worldwide support an incoming president’s agenda, values and behaviors.”

"No, actually, it just means they will perform." . . .

UN Set For Showdown As US Weighs Abstention On Anti-Israel Vote

Yeshiva World News

The U.N. Security Council prepared Friday for perhaps its biggest vote in recent history as the United States weighed abstaining from a resolution that would condemn Israeli settlement construction in Yehuda and Shomron and east Jerusalem. Behind the scenes, U.S. and Israeli officials exchanged surprisingly sharp words for allies.

" A day after Egypt suddenly postponed the showdown, the Palestinian mission to the United Nations said the council would take up the matter again on Friday. The 15­ nation body was huddled in closed consultations and officials indicated a vote could take place immediately afterward. 

. . . 

"American officials indicated the Obama administration would have been prepared to let the resolution pass in a sharp break with past U.S. diplomatic practice. Israeli officials said they were aware of such plans and turned to President­ elect Donald Trump for support. Trump sent a tweet urging President Barack Obama to exercise America’s veto power. Egypt then pulled its resolution, with U.S. officials saying the action occurred under fierce Israeli pressure. Israeli officials then accused Obama of colluding with the Palestinians in a “shameful move” against the Jewish state. Washington denied the charge. 

ISRAEL DENOUNCES “SHAMEFUL” OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

"Paul wrote yesterday about how President-elect Trump went to bat for Israel, opposing an anti-settlement United Nations resolution that the Obama administration had decided not to veto. Today Israel’s government shed more light on what happened, and made clear its feelings about the Obama administration: . . ."
"The AP also reports that, while Egypt has withdrawn its anti-Israel resolution in the face of Trump’s opposition, another country may sponsor it, and it might yet come up for a vote before President Obama leaves office–a relief that can’t come too soon."

Harsh UN resolution on Israeli settlements suddenly withdrawn by Egypt  . . . "Beyond the Obama administration being irrelevant in world affairs is the realization that the center of gravity of power is no longer in Washington; it is in Trump Tower, where the president-elect has gone beyond dabbling in foreign policy and is actually impacting world events.

"This is unprecedented and has happened simply because Trump has asserted himself while President Obama has abdicated.  For example, Russia announced that it is working on a ceasefire in Syria, with President Assad, Turkey, Iran, and Moscow being involved in the talks. "

Democrats Plan Alternate Mega-Concert For Inauguration Day

Townhall

"While there are few actually confirmed details as of now, there's apparently a massive, star-studded "We The People" concert being planned for Miami on the day of Donald Trump's inauguration. The idea is to counter Trump's inauguration and garner higher television ratings than the swearing-in. Normally, the presidential inaugurals carry several a-list acts, but Trump has had issues booking artists to perform. So far, the only confirmed acts are Jackie Evancho (singing the National Anthem), the Rockettes, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir." 

"Rumored artists include Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Elton John." . . .

How Barack Obama Failed Black Americans

The country’s first black president never pursued policies bold enough to close the racial wealth gap.

The Atlantic

"Born in 1953, I am a child of the waning years of legal segregation in the United States. My parents, on the other hand, spent about 40 years of their lives under Jim Crow, and all of my grandparents lived most of their lives under official American apartheid. At the time of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency in 2008, my mother and all four of my grandparents were deceased. But my father was alive and well—and absolutely thrilled to have lived to see the election of a black man as president of the United States. Usually deeply cynical about American politics and politicians, my dad could not comprehend my deep reservations about Barack Obama’s leadership. Indeed, he viewed any criticism of Obama as bringing aid and comfort to white supremacists." . . .

William A. Darity Jr. is the Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics, and the director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University.