A week and a half ago President Obama gave the order for the U.S. to abstain on UN Security Council Resolution 2334, thereby—effectively—voting in favor and allowing the resolution to pass.
As I noted, the resolution goes beyond “moral equivalency” by obfuscating Palestinian terror and incitement while branding Jewish life beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines a “flagrant violation under international law” and a “major obstacle…to peace.”
But the administration wasn’t through with Israel. A few days later, with the Middle East aflame from Yemen to Iraq to Syria to Libya to Sudan and Iranian expansionism on the march, Secretary of State Kerry delivered a 75-minute harangue against what he called Israel’s “pernicious policy of settlement construction that is making peace impossible.”
The Obama administration’s stepped-up diplomatic and verbal assault on Israel in the last weeks of its tenure has not gone unnoticed, sparking bitter criticism even from Democratic lawmakers and mainstream American Jewish organizations that are far from any right-wing agenda.
But the extent to which the administration listens to such protests, or can be budged from its wholesale endorsement of Palestinian claims regarding the West Bank and Jerusalem, can be gauged from the fact that the Obama-Kerry team has still more in store for Israel.
It’s set to take place in Paris on January 15, under the aegis of the Hollande government, and it’s expected that some 70 countries will be attending.
The ostensible subject: “Middle East peace.” The translation: more invalidation of any and all Israeli claims to land captured from Jordan (not the Palestinians) in a defensive war in 1967, and more support for what—under present circumstances—would almost certainly be a Palestinian terror state in that territory.
American Jewish leaders have demanded that France call off this “ill-conceived, poorly timed and damaging” event, also pointing to “the impending transition to a new US administration, just five days later.”
But according to The Times of Israel, that—the Obama administration’s exploitation of its last days in office to do more harm to Israel—is exactly what Prime Minister Netanyahu is concerned about.
The Times of Israel cites an Israeli news broadcast saying Netanyahu believes the Middle East Quartet—which includes the U.S., UN, Russia, and the EU—“will coordinate positions at the Paris summit, and then return to the Security Council in the very last days of Obama’s presidency to cement these new parameters on Mideast peacemaking.”
“Cement these new parameters” would, of course, mean another Security Council resolution that is ruinous to Israel’s stance in favor of a negotiated settlement, tars it as a rogue state and international outlaw, and gives another major boost to the ongoing international effort to delegitimize and ultimately dismantle the Jewish state.
Obama’s promised ‘smooth transition’ has turned out to be one of the biggest setups the US has seen in its political history. The President’s last efforts are a case study of politicking and group interests put way above those of the country.
The expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and their family members by Obama, just weeks before leaving office, was heralded in the mainstream media as ‘response to attacking our democracy.’ What was (and still is) absent from those reports was any proof of an ‘attack.’ Technical experts laughed at “evidence” provided by the White House, independent journalists reminded the nation about the Iraq WMD lies that led the US into war, while Trump has refused to lash out at Russia, despite pressure from both major parties and their media bullhorns.
“To the degree you can foul the well, to the degree you can make Putin even madder and get him to react, the better,” former CIA analyst Ray McGovern explained to Loud & Clearon Radio Sputnik. According to McGovern, it was a deliberate provocation, meant to poison relations between the President-elect and his Russian counterpart even before Trump takes office. “Now, Putin is smarter by half. He didn’t react — he’s being applauded throughout the world."
McGovern noted that Putin’s restraint over the last few years has been “truly remarkable,” and stated that the response shows that the Russian leader is a “statesman.”
“The real challenge will be to the intelligence community to come up with ‘evidence,’” McGovern said of the hacking claims. “If there is none, if Trump is right in saying they are lying to him — they’re lying to all of us — then heads will roll. That’s partly what John Brennan and his CIA upper management are afraid of. Now, I don’t think there is any evidence… whether they can fabricate evidence as they did with respect to WMDs, forgeries for example, on yellowcake from Africa — whether they can do that in three weeks, they’re probably already working on it.”
McGovern pointed out that Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, who are currently leading the charge for war with Russia, alongside the Democrats, were also insistent that there was “no doubt” about the WMDs — even though there was then, too, no evidence. McGovern stated that those pushing for war should be embarrassed, “if they have any consciences at all,” after the consequences of their previous faulty intelligence.
Unlike Russia, Israel is not reacting kindly to Obama’s last minute escapades. Currently, Israel is lashing out at the White House for the latter’s role in the passing of a UN Security Council resolution harshly condemning Israel’s settlements in Palestinian territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his outrage at Obama, and asserted that the White House was behind the resolution. Further, Netanyahu says that he will prove his claim when Trump takes office, to seemingly attempt to tarnish the reputation of Obama.
In another shockingly bold last-minute effort, Obama eased restrictions on arms shipments to Syrian jihadists.
“At the start of December, the president issued a memorandum waiving restrictions on the provision of US weapons and equipment to militants in Syria. Observers warned repeatedly that advanced US weapons could easily fall into the hands of jihadist extremists, but to no avail,”
So, as the “peaceful transition of power,” is meant to be underway and Trump repeatedly vows to work with other nations to counter terrorism and improve global relations, President Obama has increased the threat of attacks by Syrian Jihadists, snubbed the allied nation of Israel, and attempted to dramatically increase tensions with Russia.
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