Trump Messages Netanyahu; “Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”

In August 1979, then-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young was fired by President Carter for meeting secretly with Zehdi Terzi, the UN representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the New Jersey apartment of the UN Ambassador from Kuwait. The U.S. had promised Israel that it would not meet with the PLO until the terrorists acknowledged Israel’s right to exist. The Israeli Mossad revealed the details of the clandestine meeting.

Now thirty-eight years later, the Israelis have reported they have “ironclad proof” that U.S. officials from the Obama Administration have once again conspired with the Palestinians to pass the most anti-Israel resolution in the UN’s history. Doubling down on its public break with the Obama administration, a furious Israeli government this past Tuesday said it had received information from Arab sources that Obama White House  actively helped craft last week’s UN resolution declaring Israeli settlements in occupied territories illegal. No doubt, once again, the Israeli Mossad is watching. Of course, the Obama administration has vehemently denied Israel’s allegations.

The allegations further poisoned a toxic atmosphere between Israel and the outgoing Obama administration in the wake of last Friday’s UN Security Council vote, raising questions about whether the Obama Administration might take further action against settlements in the President’s final three-weeks in office.

With the U.S. expected to participate in an international peace conference in France next month, Secretary of State John Kerry final policy speech today poured more gas on the fire, following the UN vote, further inflaming the Administration’s past actions and rhetoric toward Israel, and offering the Palestinians hope of capitalizing on the momentum. To that end, the Israeli government is banking on incoming President Donald Trump to undo the damage with a robust and redoubled effort and support.

Although the U.S. has long opposed any aggressive and over expansion of Israeli settlements, it has generally used its Security Council veto to protect its closest ally in the Middle East and the region’s only Democracy from censure. On Friday, it abstained from a resolution calling settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law, allowing the UN resolution to pass by a 14-0 margin.

Further, and more disturbing, by abstaining from a vote in the UN Security Council that condemned Israeli settlement construction, as well as ignoring the move to withdraw it by U.S.-friendly countries like Egypt, President Obama showed once again that his foreign policy has been one that aids our enemies and punishes our friends, by his siding with the Palestinians.

Behind the scenes of the American betrayal of Israel, how this transpired:

So what actually transpired over the previous weeks and months to set the stage for the Security Council resolution, the stakes at play, and most importantly for the Obama Administration, perhaps an ‘olive branch’ to affirm Obama’s eight-year claim that he and his administration continues to support Israel and its right to exist – perhaps? Not so much. Here’s what we know.

Despite the fact that the Obama administration has vehemently denied Israel’s allegations, claiming:

White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said;

• “We did not draft, advance, promote, or even tell any other country how we would vote on this resolution in advance.
• What we do know is that The Times of Israel has published a transcript of meetings between the U.S. and Palestinians showing just how far the Obama Administration has conspired with terrorists against our allies:

– In a meeting in early December 2016 with top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, SecState John Kerry told the Palestinians that the U.S. was prepared to cooperate with the Palestinians at the UN Security Council.

– Also present at the meeting were U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and Majed Faraj, Director of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service.

– White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price stated on Wednesday told the Times of Israel that no such meeting took place. Stating; “The ‘transcript’ is a total fabrication.”

• While the State Department confirmed meetings that Saeb Erekat and a Palestinian delegation had with Kerry and separately with Rice, Price stated that; “No tripartite between all of them took place.” That is really irrelevant and somewhat nebulous because that does not matter or make a difference – that a nuance and play on words.

• Further, Kerry is quoted as saying that he could present his ideas for a final status solution if the Palestinians pledge they will support the proposed framework. The U.S. officials advised the Palestinians to travel to Riyadh to present the plan to Saudi leaders.

• Israel worst fears were laid in Kerry’s speech on the subject, in which he laid out his comprehensive vision for two-state solution which will be officially presented at the Paris Peace conference planned for January. Israel has refused to attend. Israel further fears that this Kerry framework could be enshrined in another UN Security Council resolution.
• From what we know of the administration’s attitude toward Israel, the transcript rings true, although any information originating from a source in the Middle East must be accepted with some skepticism. Still, to think it was possible that two of the top foreign policy representatives of the United States would actively conspire with terrorist-supporting Palestinians against one of our closest allies is remarkable in a historical context.
• As revealed was that Great Britain has also singled out for working to pass the anti-Israel resolution, according to reports, urging New Zealand to introduce the measure at the UN Security Council:

– According to Israel’s Haaretz News Agency, in an article titled “Britain Pulled the Strings and Netanyahu warned New Zealand It Was Declaring War: New Details on Israel’s Battle Against the UN Vote” according to Haaretz: “The British secretly worked the Palestinians and urged New Zealand to move ahead with the resolution, and a call from Netanyahu to Putin triggered a real drama at the UN HQ just one hour before the vote.”

• Last Friday, a few hours before the UN Security Council vote on the settlements, Netanyahu phoned New Zealand’s foreign minister, Murray McCully to urge him to abstain. It should be noted; New Zealand, together with Senegal, Malaysia and Venezuela, were leading the move to resubmit the resolution for a vote because which Egypt had backed down the day before.
• Earlier in the day Israel time, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry called New Zealand’s ambassador to Israel, Jonathan Curr, and warned him that if New Zealand’s move came to a vote, Israel might close its embassy in Wellington in protest. Ambassador Curr noted this and reported it to his government, but that morning in New York, Israel learned that things were still moving ahead.
• Netanyahu’s phone call to McCully was almost his last attempt to prevent the vote, or at least to postpone it and buy a little time. According to Western diplomats, the conversation was harsh and very tense and Netanyahu let loose with sharp threats, perhaps unprecedented in relations between Israel and another Western country.
• “This is a scandalous decision. I’m asking that you not support it and not promote it,” Netanyahu told McCully. Further saying “If you continue to promote this resolution from our point of view it will be a declaration of war. It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences. We’ll recall our ambassador to Jerusalem.” McCully refused to back down from the vote. “This resolution conforms to our policy and we will move it forward,” he told Netanyahu. (These comments were according to the Western diplomats, who asked to remain unnamed due to the sensitivity of the matter).

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday in a statement to the media following the speech delivered by Secretary Kerry. “Kerry’s speech was a big disappointment.” Further noting; “It deals obsessively with Israeli settlements, instead of dealing with the root of the conflict – the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize a Jewish state within any border.” I would also add Palestinian terrorism, which is a by-product and condition established by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. Anyone who disagrees with that is very foolish, ignorant or both.

Netanyahu went on, “I was surprised. This is what the State Secretary (referring to Kerry) of the greatest power in the world chooses to focus on in one of his final speeches in office?” wondered Netanyahu. “The Middle East is in flames: entire countries are collapsing and terrorism is rampant, and for an hour the Secretary of State attacks the Middle East’s only democracy.”

“Perhaps the Secretary of State did not notice, but these days as people are celebrating Christmas, Israel is the only place in the Middle East where Christians can,” Netanyahu continued. “They do so peacefully and safely in Israel. All this, unfortunately, does not interest the Secretary of State of the United States. It creates a false moral equation comparing the construction of a house in Jerusalem with the acts of terror that strikes the innocent. After he equates the two, he talks almost exclusively about the house in Jerusalem, and then pays a tax by condemning terrorism.”

Netanyahu then returned to criticizing the American abstention, among other things, which led to the passing of an anti-Israel resolution by the UN Security Council. “The UN resolution Kerry pushed, which discussed anonymous incitement, dealt only with the settlements identified with Israel. In contrast, there is still incitement in the territories, and no one knows who is behind it. ”

“I can only express disappointment,” said Netanyahu. “Had the U.S. government invested the same energy in their fight against Palestinian terrorism as they invested in condemning construction in Jerusalem, we might have had a better chance of promoting peace.” Earlier, in a statement this evening the Prime Minister alleged that Kerry’s speech was “biased against Israel, just like the UN resolution Kerry had promoted.”

Most likely in reference to Netanyahu saying that “Friends don’t take friends to the Security Council,” Kerry said tonight, “Some seem to believe that the U.S. friendship means the U.S. must accept any policy, regardless of our own interests, our own positions, our own words, our own principles – even after urging again and again that the policy must change.” Kerry continued, “Friends need to tell each other the hard truths, and friendships require mutual respect.”

Now in the aftermath, Prime Minister Netanyahu, for his part, is biding his time and waiting for Mr. Kerry and Mr. Obama to move on. Israeli leaders late today have postponed plans to move ahead with new housing in East Jerusalem, just hours before the speech. They knew what was coming from Kerry and his promotion of Obama’s continued flawed and failed foreign policy, and so did freedom-loving Americans.

For eight years we have come to expect the worst from Obama’s foreign policy. The sell-out of America in the Obama apology tour, the Russian Reset, the removal of missile defenses in Eastern Europe, the Pivot to Asia, the on-going release of Guantanamo terrorists, the Arab Spring folly, the toppling of Egyptian President Mubarak for the Muslim Brotherhood, the premature pull-out of U.S. forces in Iraq, the unnecessary Libyan Civil War, the Russian invasion of the Crimea and the Ukraine, the denial about envelopment and rise of ISIS, the Syria Red Line, failure to secure the U.S. borders, the Iranian Nuclear Deal, the reestablishment of relations Communist Cuba — which by the way the Obama Administration was in cahoots with the UN, intentionally also  abstained from a U.N. General Assembly vote this past October to end the U.S. embargo on communist Cuba. Which, by doing so, betrayed the claims of U.S. businessmen whose properties were stolen by the regime in Havana without offering any compensation to them. The Obama White House opted to side with the thieves rather than with U.S. victims. And of course, we can go on…

Perhaps it is fitting that one of the Obama administration’s last acts would be to attempt to undermine Israel’s security. Ironically, for a president who prides himself and his legacy for all the “firsts” he has been able to accomplish, it’s probably safe to say that his administration’s cynical abstention at the UN will be his “last.”

Most Americans cannot wait for January 20^th when President Donald Trump will undo all the damage that President Obama has done and, once again, reach out to our friends in the world. Likewise, President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday morning ripped the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel and pledged to end the “disdain and disrespect” for the country. Saying, in a series of foreign policy tweets; “We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but not anymore. Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”