{"id":25608,"date":"2016-12-24T13:35:24","date_gmt":"2016-12-24T21:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=25608"},"modified":"2016-12-24T13:35:24","modified_gmt":"2016-12-24T21:35:24","slug":"doing-the-right-thing-at-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/24\/doing-the-right-thing-at-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing the Right Thing at Last!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">The United Nations has a pretty good track record for voting overwhelmingly to censure both Arab States that have supported Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians, and Israel for atrocities against Palestinian civilian and occupation of Palestinian territory by force.&#160; The problem is that one member of the UN Security Council with veto power has consistently vetoed only the actions taken against Israel.&#160; Finally Obama directed our Ambassador to the UN to do the right thing at last.<\/font><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"1224Censure\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"1224Censure\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/1224Censure.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Defying extraordinary pressure from President-elect Donald J. Trump and furious lobbying by Israel, the Obama administration on Friday allowed the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/sc\/\" target=\"_blank\">United Nations Security Council<\/a> to adopt a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction.<\/p>\n<p>The administration\u2019s decision not to veto the measure reflected its accumulated frustration over Israeli settlements. The American abstention on the vote also broke a longstanding policy of shielding Israel from action at the United Nations that described the settlements as illegal.<\/p>\n<p>While the resolution is not expected to have any practical impact on the ground, it is regarded as a major rebuff to Israel, one that could increase its isolation over the paralyzed peace process with Israel\u2019s Palestinian neighbors, who have sought to establish their own state on territory held by Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Applause broke out in the 15-member Security Council\u2019s chambers after the vote on the measure, which passed 14 to 0, with the United States ambassador, Samantha Power, raising her hand as the lone abstention. Israel\u2019s ambassador, Danny Danon, denounced the measure, and castigated the council members who had approved it&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From &lt;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/12\/23\/world\/middleeast\/israel-settlements-un-vote.html\" target=\"_blank\">NY Times<\/a>&gt;<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">MSNBC Interviewed Cal Perry for an explanation of the US abstention.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"500\" src=\"http:\/\/player.theplatform.com\/p\/7wvmTC\/MSNBCEmbeddedOffSite?guid=n_snow_unresolution_161223\" width=\"635\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Note that the resolution does nothing to harm Israel.&#160; It is merely a notice from the world that the current government&#8217;s attempts to take all the land by attrition instead of the two state solution guaranteed by treaty is illegal and immoral.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">It&#8217;s important that you understand that not all Jews oppose this measure.&#160; We hear mostly about AIPAC, but that most Jews fail to understand that organization is bankrolled and at least partially dominated by non-Jewish Republicans, especially Dominionist Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians.&#160; Here is the authentic voice of liberal American Jews.<\/font><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"1224J-street\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"1224J-street\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/1224J-street.jpg\" width=\"360\" align=\"left\" height=\"226\" \/>J Street welcomes the decision today by the Obama administration to abstain from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution, which reaffirms the need for a two-state solution and calls for a halt to actions by both sides that serve to undermine the prospects for peace.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The resolution is consistent with longstanding bipartisan American policy, which includes strong support for the two-state solution, and clear opposition to irresponsible and damaging actions, including Palestinian incitement and terror and Israeli settlement expansion and home demolitions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only end based on mutual agreement between Israelis and Palestinians<\/strong>, and President Obama has repeatedly stated his opposition to the United Nations \u2013 or any other entity \u2013 imposing a binding resolution on the parties. He also has stated and demonstrated a commitment to vetoing UNSC resolutions that are one-sided or anti-Israel&#8230; [<em>emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">From &lt;<a href=\"http:\/\/jstreet.org\/press-releases\/j-street-welcomes-us-abstention-unsc-resolution\/\" target=\"_blank\">J Street<\/a>&gt;<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Finally, if you have any doubt, here&#8217;s the final proof.&#160; Both Netanyahu and Trump oppose it.&#160; Kudos to Obama!<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United Nations has a pretty good track record for voting overwhelmingly to censure both Arab States that have supported Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians, and Israel for atrocities against Palestinian civilian and occupation of Palestinian territory by force.&#160; The problem is that one member of the UN Security Council with veto power has consistently <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/24\/doing-the-right-thing-at-last\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}