Obama is on vacation. The UN Security Council resolution against Israel coming up today is not even on Obama’s radar during vacation. At least so it seems, for there is no open directive from him to his UN ambassador on how to vote.
The Palestinians prepared a proposal condemning Israel for building in Judaea and Samaria. They gave it to Egypt to submit. The proposal makes all building in Judaea and Samaria illegal. To be “fair” it asks for a “cessation of violence from both sides.”
If the U.S. chooses not to stand with Israel and veto the anti-Israel proposal, Israel potentially will be open to lawsuits in the International Court at The Hague. Israel can also be the brunt of security sanctions against it.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said: “This is the epitome of UN absurdity and hypocrisy. This decision will not promote any peace process and will only represent a prize from the UN to the Palestinian policy of incitement and terror.”He added that “It is crazy that, at a time when thousands are being slaughtered in Syria, the Security Council devotes time to condemning the only democracy in the Middle East. In the last few months we have been conducting a diplomatic battle with members of the Security Council and using all methods to prevent this decision from passing. We expect our greatest friend not to let this unilateral and anti-Israel proposal pass.”
In 2011 a similar proposal was vetoed by Obama but now there are no guarantees. Theories abound that Obama will veto it but is holding back on a “Yes” to apply pressure to Netanyahu to make concessions and come to the French Peace initiative with some gesture for the PA.
We can only second guess why Obama hasn’t said anything but if wanted to he had plenty of time before his vacation to address the issue at least in principle stating what his position is. An American source said that Obama would exercise the veto because he wouldn’t want to make a decision that would unilaterally change the current situation between the Palestinians and Israel. We hope he’s right.
