On Friday, December 23, 2016, a vote was held by the United Nations Security Council, on Resolution 2334. The resolution passed, with 14 affirmative votes and 1 abstention.

Resolution 2334 states that all measures aimed at changing the demographic composition and status of Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, including construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians are in violation of international humanitarian law, Israel’s obligation as the occupying Power according to the Fourth Geneva Convention and previous resolutions.

The resolution also condemns all acts of violence against civilians, including terrorism, provocation and destruction. It reiterates support for the “Two-State Solution” and noted that settlement activities are “imperilling” its viability.
The document also “underlines” that the UN Security Council “will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations”; and “calls” upon all states “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

Now, this is pretty standard fare from the empirical cosplayers who inhabit the halls of the United Nations, but what makes this vote significant is the nation that abstained. You guessed it, the United States.

This appears to be a last-ditch effort by the lame-duck Obama administration to pretend to have some sort of anti-Israel legacy to point to in history books of the future. “See? Remember when I broke with all of the previous administrations when these anti-Israel, anti-Zion, anti-Semitic Security Council resolutions came up, and didn’t use our (U.S.) veto power to veto the resolution, instead abstained, thereby allowing it to pass?” The irony is, the resolution isn’t even binding, nor does it have any teeth, or consequences for Israel if they violate it, which they do, just by existing. Why would we carelessly disrespect our stanchest ally in the volatile Middle East? What do we gain from this?

What Obama has never understood and most likely never will, is you can’t be a half-friend. You have to stand for something, and if others don’t agree with you, that is their problem. Appeasement is always a prescription for failure. Obama has been fond of quoting the great Republican, Abraham Lincoln, throughout the course of his eight years in office, but somehow, one of Honest Abe’s finest idioms, “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” has escaped his notice. He would do well to study that one.

Thankfully, the glacial failure of Obama’s Presidency is at it’s end. We are on the cusp of a greatness America has not seen since the Eisenhower days. Foolish pandering faux pas such as this are soon to be a thing of the past. We the people, have elected a LEADER, who will stand up in support of Israel, a country viciously attacked in June 1967, in what would come to be called “The Six-Day War”, where this territory in question was captured and annexed. To the victor go the spoils. This land is Israel’s. America needs to support the jewish homeland. Any agreement that is to be forged spelling out a solution to the Palestinian problem, must originate, and have the imprimatur of the Israeli people and their leaders.    

2016 has been an strange year, to say the least. Here’s hoping for a return to sanity and normalcy in 2017!

Happy New Year!