UPDATED: By allowing an anti-Israel Security Council resolution, Obama will hurt the U.N., and not help peace

Update: Israel accuses Obama administration of helping craft, push UN censure  "We have rather ironclad 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,” David Keyes, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Fox News’ “America’s News HQ.”  

Obama 2015: Our commitment to Israel is ‘unshakable’ — Obama 2016: Time to shake things up a bit

"With Republican control of Congress and the White House, the avenues for pushback would be many. Trump could make an anti-settlements resolution a dead letter by moving the U.S. Embassy not just to Jerusalem, but to eastern Jerusalem."

Volokh Conspiracy  . . . "Obama’s goal with such a resolution would be to punish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he personally dislikes, and to create diplomatic facts on the ground to box in President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy. The folly of a such resolution has been underscored by both Hillary Clinton and Trump, as well as near-unanimous majorities in both houses of Congress and an array of Democratic foreign policy experts, including former Senate majority leader and Obama administration peace negotiator George Mitchell.

"Such a resolution would not cement any positive legacy for Obama. To the contrary, it would vastly magnify the actual obstacles to resolving the Palestinian issue. Moreover, by setting the U.N. against Israel, Obama may provoke a sharp conflict between Washington and the U.N. — one that would harm the latter much more than the former.

"The proposed resolution denounces any Jewish presence in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank as illegal and demands that Israel immediately choke off such communities. These areas had been entirely cleansed of their ancient Jewish populations during the Jordanian invasion and occupation in 1949. The standard diplomatic position of the U.N. is that Israel, upon retaking these areas in 1967, was obligated to indefinitely forbid Jews from living in these areas (but the U.N. has amazingly avoided applying these supposed rules anywhere else).

"The legal effects of such a resolution would be murky — the Security Council is neither a court nor a legislature and cannot create rules of international law. Nor do the resolutions invoke the council’s power under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter to call for mandatory measures, such as sanctions. What is clear is that a Security Council resolution will reinforce all the dynamics that have made a solution more remote despite eight years of pressure on Israel by Obama." . . .
. . . 
Trump has consistently opposed Obama’s turning to the U.N. to create facts on the ground for U.S. policymakers or to avoid Congress — fromclimate change to the Iran deal to control of the Internet. If the Security Council becomes a forum for exonerating Iran and slamming Israel, President Trump could even embrace the idea, already popular among congressional Republicans, of cutting U.N. funding." . . .

Obama's legacy pictured

Christian References Removed From Christmas Carol in Sweden to Prepare Children for 'Inclusion'

Anugrah Kumar

"Protecting Swedish traditions is important, but raising their sights so that they have the courage to meet a changing world is another important task for the school and community to relate to," is said on the municipality's website.

A Swedish prosecutor recently ruled that flying the Islamic State's black flag is perfectly legal and does not constitute a hate crime.

Sweden is sometimes referred to as the "least religious nation in the western world." A 2014 study found that nearly eight out of 10 Swedes are either "not religious" or "convinced atheists," making the country one of the least religious nation in the Western world.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-references-removed-from-christmas-carol-to-prepare-children-for-inclusion-in-sweden-172358/#RaY0f6gbTcfJwov1.99

"Protecting Swedish traditions is important, but raising their sights so that they have the courage to meet a changing world is another important task for the school and community to relate to," is said on the municipality's website.

A Swedish prosecutor recently ruled that flying the Islamic State's black flag is perfectly legal and does not constitute a hate crime.

Sweden is sometimes referred to as the "least religious nation in the western world." A 2014 study found that nearly eight out of 10 Swedes are either "not religious" or "convinced atheists," making the country one of the least religious nation in the Western world.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-references-removed-from-christmas-carol-to-prepare-children-for-inclusion-in-sweden-172358/#RaY0f6gbTcfJwov1.99

. . . "The grandfather laments changes made to the carol, which includes the axing of lines such as “born of the Lord Jesus Christ”, and “a ray of God’s love’s light”, so as to remove references to the fact Christmas is a religious feast. He notes that even “star of Bethlehem” has been censored, and changed to “star over all of us”.

"The letter’s author suggests that schools “bring an end to this special treatment for newly arrived students”, and writes: “The idea was that [migrants] would be integrated into Swedish society and not vice versa.

“ 'We shouldn’t be afraid of our Swedish traditions. Soon we’ll have none left,” he notes, sadly.

"In a notice on its municipal website, Åmål’s education administration confirmed that the changes highlighted in the letter had taken place, and adding that an “appropriate selection of verses from different songs and hymns” were chosen for the celebration.

"The statement says the edits allow “all students regardless of nationality and religion” to participate. The replacing of “Bethlehem” with “all of us”, the school’s management insists, is “commendable”, as “the wording then allows the star to shine on all of us”." . . . Hat tip to Breitbart London

Netanyahu Shares Powerful Christmas Message Of The Bond Between Christians And Jews

Tell me again; why do so many in the world root for Islam to destroy these people?

Weasel Zippers

A Call For Trump To Derail Obama’s Midnight Regulation Express

Patterico's Pontifications  "The immensely ungracious exit of President Obama deserves this spot-on gutting: 
(Bullet points added by TD)

• Barack Obama isn’t known for humility, though rarely has his lack of grace been more on display than in his final hours in office. The nation rejected his agenda. The president’s response? To shove more of that agenda down the nation’s gullet.
• Notice the growing and many ugly ways the Obama administration is actively working to undermine a Donald Trump presidency. Unnamed administration sources whisper stories about Russian hackers to delegitimize Mr. Trump’s election. These whispers began at about the same time Hillary Clinton officials began pressuring electors to defy election results and deny Mr. Trump the presidency. How helpful.
• Trump transition-team members report how Obama officials are providing them with skewed or incomplete information, as well as lectures about their duties on climate change. (No wonder Mr. Trump is bypassing those “official” intelligence briefings.) The Energy Department is refusing to provide the transition team with the names of career officials who led key programs, like those who attended U.N. climate talks. Sen. Ron Johnson recently sent a letter to President Obama voicing alarm over “burrowing,” in which political appointees, late in an administration, convert to career bureaucrats and become obstacles to the new political appointees.
• But perhaps nothing has more underlined the Obama arrogance than his final flurry of midnight regulations. With each new proposed rule or executive order, Mr. Obama is spitefully mocking the nation that just told him “enough.”

 Rick Moran on "Obama's 'Midnight Regulation Express' " . . . "Trump's transition people are bitterly complaining about a lack of cooperation from the executive departments.  This foot-dragging is slowing the transition process, which makes it less likely that Trump can hit the ground running on January 21.  Instead, the new president will be forced to deal with a dizzying array of federal rules – most of which will end up in court anyway as businesses fight back against this federal government-wide power-grab.

"The bottom line: Obama and the Democrats do not recognize Donald Trump as the legitimate president of the United States and will do all in their power over the next four years to ensure the failure of his administration."

The 7 Worst Media Losers Of 2016

The Daily Wire  "The media was one of the biggest losers of 2016, as the election of Donald Trump to the presidency reflected how the American people no longer take the mainstream media seriously, as they have exposed their true, partisan colors.

"Here are the seven worst media losers of 2016.

1. Martha Raddatz. Raddatz of ABC News earns this distinction because her bias for Hillary Clinton was blatant to the point where she began to cry when it became clear that Clinton was going to lose to Trump:

"After moderating a presidential debate in which Raddatz actually began arguing with Trump for a period of time, there is a sense of justice in seeing her tear up when her precious Clinton lost."

Five Absolutely Awful Actions Taken by Obama In His Last Days

Independent Sentinel

"Obama is doing as much damage as he possibly can before he leaves and he still has a month to go. We listed five of his worst actions of late.

"ISRAEL DOESN’T HAVE LAND

"The Obama administration allowed the U.N. to pass a resolution that basically says Israel has no right to land or self-defense. Judea and Samaria were the Jewish homeland for 4,000 years, Mike Huckabee said on Fox News. He’s irate over the U.S. allowing the resolution to go through at the U.N. It says that Israel does not have land to negotiate with for peace. Even the Washington Post was against what this president and his minion Samantha Power did.

"Obama made peace far more difficult to achieve and he knows it.

. . . 

"WE CAN’T DRILL IN MILLIONS OF ACRES – EVER

"Obama banned oil and gas drilling in 115 million acres of the Arctic and 3.8 million acres of the Atlantic Ocean, a move that he thinks can’t be undone by an incoming president.

"He thinks he permanently banned the drilling. He’s a tinpot dictator depriving us of our resources." . . .

"WE WILL ENACT THE PARIS TREATY AKA AGREEMENT

"He did the same thing with the Paris climate agreement. He has, what he believes, are clauses making it permanent. To make the agreement happen, Obama colluded with the U.N. to distort and manipulate a prior treaty. He bypassed the Senate on what was obviously a treaty and the Senate allowed him to do it, even passing a law giving their treaty powers away.

"GOVERNMENT WILL DECIDE WHAT IS FAKE OR NOT

He signed the Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act on the eve of Christmas and Hanukkah. There isn’t much that is more Orwellian than this Act. It was passed by Congress. Unfortunately, Trump wants to make America great again but members of Congress are still globalists.

"LET THOSE TERRORISTS FREE

. . . "Sanaa-born Muhammed al-Ansi had been held for years as a “forever prisoner,” described by U.S. intelligence as an al-Qaida loyalist who in his teens or 20s swore an oath of allegiance to bin Laden.

"This terrorist planned 9/11!!!

"What’s next? Obama isn’t done.

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." . . .