Skip to main content
added 941 characters in body
Source Link

Also Obama (who though his tenure didn't exactly get along with Netanyahu) allowed UNSC 2334 resolution to pass as a parting shot, at the end of his mandate.

High pressures were exerted to avoid the vote. On 22 December, United States President-elect Donald Trump called on Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to withdraw the proposal, and Egypt withdrew the nomination after what its ambassador called an "intense pressure". Then on 23 December, the draft was taken up and proposed again by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela. Israel unsuccessfully pressured New Zealand to withdraw its support, with Netanyahu telling Foreign Minister Murray McCully that support for the proposal would be considered by Israel as a "declaration of war". Britain encouraged New Zealand to keep pushing for a vote. Following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, the Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin requested that the vote be postponed until after Christmas. His proposal failed to gain any support.

The resolution was passed 14 to 0; all members voted for the resolution except for the United States, which abstained. The United States ambassador, Samantha Power, explained the abstention by saying that on one hand the United Nations often unfairly targets Israel, that there are important issues unaddressed by the resolution, and that the US did not agree with every word in the text; while on the other hand the resolution reflects facts on the ground, that it reaffirms the consensus that the settlement activity is not legal, and that the settlement activity has gotten "so much worse" as to endanger the viability of the two-state solution.

Media and observers contrasted the US decision to abstain with its long-standing tradition of vetoing resolutions targeting Israel over the issues of settlements.


Something more weird happened in Carter's time. A similar resolution passed, but the US then said it voted "incorrectly".

March 4, 1980

President Carter said last night that, because of a foulup, the United States incorrectly voted Saturday for a United Nations resolution calling on Israel to dismantle its settlements in occupied Arab territories.

The error, he said, centered not on the resolution's main thrust regarding the settlements but on its references to the status of Jerusalem.

In a statement issued last night by the White House, the president said the United States should have abstained during the U.N. Security Council vote, but did not because of a mistake in transmitting his instructions clearly to U.N. Ambassador Donald F. McHenry.

OTOH back then, the overall US position in terms on UN actions was a bit different

The United States abstained on two similar votes in the Security Council last year.

The United States has long opposed the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. But it has taken a much more ambivalent position toward East Jerusalem, asserting that the city should be considered indivisible.

Also Obama (who though his tenure didn't exactly get along with Netanyahu) allowed UNSC 2334 resolution to pass as a parting shot, at the end of his mandate.

High pressures were exerted to avoid the vote. On 22 December, United States President-elect Donald Trump called on Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to withdraw the proposal, and Egypt withdrew the nomination after what its ambassador called an "intense pressure". Then on 23 December, the draft was taken up and proposed again by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela. Israel unsuccessfully pressured New Zealand to withdraw its support, with Netanyahu telling Foreign Minister Murray McCully that support for the proposal would be considered by Israel as a "declaration of war". Britain encouraged New Zealand to keep pushing for a vote. Following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, the Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin requested that the vote be postponed until after Christmas. His proposal failed to gain any support.

The resolution was passed 14 to 0; all members voted for the resolution except for the United States, which abstained. The United States ambassador, Samantha Power, explained the abstention by saying that on one hand the United Nations often unfairly targets Israel, that there are important issues unaddressed by the resolution, and that the US did not agree with every word in the text; while on the other hand the resolution reflects facts on the ground, that it reaffirms the consensus that the settlement activity is not legal, and that the settlement activity has gotten "so much worse" as to endanger the viability of the two-state solution.

Media and observers contrasted the US decision to abstain with its long-standing tradition of vetoing resolutions targeting Israel over the issues of settlements.

Also Obama (who though his tenure didn't exactly get along with Netanyahu) allowed UNSC 2334 resolution to pass as a parting shot, at the end of his mandate.

High pressures were exerted to avoid the vote. On 22 December, United States President-elect Donald Trump called on Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to withdraw the proposal, and Egypt withdrew the nomination after what its ambassador called an "intense pressure". Then on 23 December, the draft was taken up and proposed again by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela. Israel unsuccessfully pressured New Zealand to withdraw its support, with Netanyahu telling Foreign Minister Murray McCully that support for the proposal would be considered by Israel as a "declaration of war". Britain encouraged New Zealand to keep pushing for a vote. Following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, the Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin requested that the vote be postponed until after Christmas. His proposal failed to gain any support.

The resolution was passed 14 to 0; all members voted for the resolution except for the United States, which abstained. The United States ambassador, Samantha Power, explained the abstention by saying that on one hand the United Nations often unfairly targets Israel, that there are important issues unaddressed by the resolution, and that the US did not agree with every word in the text; while on the other hand the resolution reflects facts on the ground, that it reaffirms the consensus that the settlement activity is not legal, and that the settlement activity has gotten "so much worse" as to endanger the viability of the two-state solution.

Media and observers contrasted the US decision to abstain with its long-standing tradition of vetoing resolutions targeting Israel over the issues of settlements.


Something more weird happened in Carter's time. A similar resolution passed, but the US then said it voted "incorrectly".

March 4, 1980

President Carter said last night that, because of a foulup, the United States incorrectly voted Saturday for a United Nations resolution calling on Israel to dismantle its settlements in occupied Arab territories.

The error, he said, centered not on the resolution's main thrust regarding the settlements but on its references to the status of Jerusalem.

In a statement issued last night by the White House, the president said the United States should have abstained during the U.N. Security Council vote, but did not because of a mistake in transmitting his instructions clearly to U.N. Ambassador Donald F. McHenry.

OTOH back then, the overall US position in terms on UN actions was a bit different

The United States abstained on two similar votes in the Security Council last year.

The United States has long opposed the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. But it has taken a much more ambivalent position toward East Jerusalem, asserting that the city should be considered indivisible.

Source Link

Also Obama (who though his tenure didn't exactly get along with Netanyahu) allowed UNSC 2334 resolution to pass as a parting shot, at the end of his mandate.

High pressures were exerted to avoid the vote. On 22 December, United States President-elect Donald Trump called on Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to withdraw the proposal, and Egypt withdrew the nomination after what its ambassador called an "intense pressure". Then on 23 December, the draft was taken up and proposed again by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela. Israel unsuccessfully pressured New Zealand to withdraw its support, with Netanyahu telling Foreign Minister Murray McCully that support for the proposal would be considered by Israel as a "declaration of war". Britain encouraged New Zealand to keep pushing for a vote. Following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, the Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin requested that the vote be postponed until after Christmas. His proposal failed to gain any support.

The resolution was passed 14 to 0; all members voted for the resolution except for the United States, which abstained. The United States ambassador, Samantha Power, explained the abstention by saying that on one hand the United Nations often unfairly targets Israel, that there are important issues unaddressed by the resolution, and that the US did not agree with every word in the text; while on the other hand the resolution reflects facts on the ground, that it reaffirms the consensus that the settlement activity is not legal, and that the settlement activity has gotten "so much worse" as to endanger the viability of the two-state solution.

Media and observers contrasted the US decision to abstain with its long-standing tradition of vetoing resolutions targeting Israel over the issues of settlements.