So why does Abbas stubbornly persist in his self-defeating position? In an interview with Israeli television Sunday night, he offered a remarkably candid explanation: “When Obama came to power, he is the one who announced that settlement activity must be stopped,” he said. “If America says it and Europe says it and the whole world says it, you want me not to say it?”
The statement confirmed something that many Mideast watchers have suspected for a long time: that the settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas, but with Obama — who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote.
Meanwhile Powerline points out that Canada was shut out of the Security council
Canada lost out to Portugal after Portugal’s natural ally, Brazil, lobbied Islamic countries with warnings that Canada’s vote on Israel-related issues would be no different than that of the United States. Portugal, the argument went, would be more “balanced.”
The argument is accurate, except that it implies an overstatement of the extent to which the Obama administration can be expected to support Israel at the U.N. Under Prime Minister Harper, Canada is a reliable ally of Israel than the U.S. is right now. In fact, shortly before the vote, its international trade minister visited Israel and then announced his intention to tighten Canada’s already close trade relations with Israel.
As for Portugal, Israeli diplomats view it as among those EU nations that all too often goes with the anti-Israel flow. In addition to the Arab and Muslim states, Portugal had the backing fo Cuba and Venezuela.
and
Where was the U.S. while this was going down? According to the above-referenced report, we were nowhere to be found.
Apparently the President fearing political backlash won’t pressure Israel during the next two weeks. Afterwards what can we expect? In other words are these incidents the results of ineptitude or antagonism?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
