Obama and the UN vs Israel and the Free World
I think the following list of stories sums up the situation:
The Obama administration position:
- US abstains in key Israel vote, clearing way for condemnation of settlements
- After UN vote, Kerry suggests Israel’s West Bank foray spawning ‘terrorism’
- UN Approves Funding for First Anti-Israeli ‘Settlement’ Blacklist
- Leaked documents claim UN anti-settlement resolution orchestrated by US, PA co-op
- ‘Paris conference to force Israel into Auschwitz borders’
Next some of the response, from Israel, from conservatives, from Congress:
- Rabbi uses National Menorah lighting to trash Obama UN move
- John Kerry urged to cancel Mideast peace speech [by Democrat Steny Hoyer]
- ‘Catering to Freedom’s Enemies’: More Senators Join Criticism Against Obama Admin
- [Democrat] Schumer worried Kerry ‘has emboldened extremists’
- Congress Moving to Cut U.S. Funding to U.N. in Wake of Anti-Israel Vote
- Congressman Mike Rogers Introduces Bill to Get U.S. Out of UN
This story list is hardly complete but it does encapsulate the Obama/Israel/UN events of the past week. Make sure you read the stories at the links to really understand what is happening. Based on this information all I can conclude is that Obama and his administration decided in the past week to go public with their hatred of Israel. I call it hatred because I don’t know what else to call it. To them, the building of houses for Israelis to live in is more evil that Palestinian and Islamic terrorist bombings, murders, hijackings, and rocket firings.
As for the response, I have my doubts whether Congress will really do the right thing and dump the UN. In all my life only once have I seen real leadership in these matters, and that was during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, when he decided to withdraw from UNESCO because, as his administration noted at the time, ”Unesco has extraneously politicized virtually every subject it deals with, has exhibited hostility toward the basic institutions of a free society, especially a free market and a free press, and has demonstrated unrestrained budgetary expansion.”
Right now I suspect that the cowardly Republican leadership is scheming for ways they can participate in some form of “failure theater,” something to which they are very practiced, where they pass some meaningless resolutions condemning the UN while allowing its funding and its support to continue unhindered. We shall see if my cynicism here is justified. The one aspect of these events that suggests I might be too pessimistic is the number of Democrats publicly condemning the President. Democratic support these days is very confined to the big urban coastal cities, which also happens to be where their Jewish support is centered. Obama’s actions this week fire a bullet into that support, and very clearly threaten to damage it badly. They have already lost middle Ameica. If they lose the urban Jewish voter their chances of winning elections in the future will become even more difficult.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I think the following list of stories sums up the situation:
The Obama administration position:
- US abstains in key Israel vote, clearing way for condemnation of settlements
- After UN vote, Kerry suggests Israel’s West Bank foray spawning ‘terrorism’
- UN Approves Funding for First Anti-Israeli ‘Settlement’ Blacklist
- Leaked documents claim UN anti-settlement resolution orchestrated by US, PA co-op
- ‘Paris conference to force Israel into Auschwitz borders’
Next some of the response, from Israel, from conservatives, from Congress:
- Rabbi uses National Menorah lighting to trash Obama UN move
- John Kerry urged to cancel Mideast peace speech [by Democrat Steny Hoyer]
- ‘Catering to Freedom’s Enemies’: More Senators Join Criticism Against Obama Admin
- [Democrat] Schumer worried Kerry ‘has emboldened extremists’
- Congress Moving to Cut U.S. Funding to U.N. in Wake of Anti-Israel Vote
- Congressman Mike Rogers Introduces Bill to Get U.S. Out of UN
This story list is hardly complete but it does encapsulate the Obama/Israel/UN events of the past week. Make sure you read the stories at the links to really understand what is happening. Based on this information all I can conclude is that Obama and his administration decided in the past week to go public with their hatred of Israel. I call it hatred because I don’t know what else to call it. To them, the building of houses for Israelis to live in is more evil that Palestinian and Islamic terrorist bombings, murders, hijackings, and rocket firings.
As for the response, I have my doubts whether Congress will really do the right thing and dump the UN. In all my life only once have I seen real leadership in these matters, and that was during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, when he decided to withdraw from UNESCO because, as his administration noted at the time, ”Unesco has extraneously politicized virtually every subject it deals with, has exhibited hostility toward the basic institutions of a free society, especially a free market and a free press, and has demonstrated unrestrained budgetary expansion.”
Right now I suspect that the cowardly Republican leadership is scheming for ways they can participate in some form of “failure theater,” something to which they are very practiced, where they pass some meaningless resolutions condemning the UN while allowing its funding and its support to continue unhindered. We shall see if my cynicism here is justified. The one aspect of these events that suggests I might be too pessimistic is the number of Democrats publicly condemning the President. Democratic support these days is very confined to the big urban coastal cities, which also happens to be where their Jewish support is centered. Obama’s actions this week fire a bullet into that support, and very clearly threaten to damage it badly. They have already lost middle Ameica. If they lose the urban Jewish voter their chances of winning elections in the future will become even more difficult.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The worldAmerica is filled with good guys and bad guys. It really is as simple as that. We just need to decide which we will be.Those that allow the bad guys to win are not the good guys… no matter what they claim. Those that defend or apologize for them are not the good guys either.
If the Obama administration hates Israel why do they continue to send 3 billion dollars a year to Israel?
Oh, the UN will go away, maybe already in January. I have no doubts about that because it would be in Trump’s interest and he is certainly capable of making it happen. He wants to negotiate bilaterally with each other country separately. The US is much stronger than any other country, only collective organizations like the UN can balance US’ power. Thus, stuff like UN, WTO, IMF, NATO will be history within a matter of weeks. Since people realize that this will happen, the rats are already leaving the sinking ships. The Sleeping Beauty Obama just woke up after 2,900 days and 2,900 nights and acts blindly in panic. It is just making the transition easier for Donald Trump since more radical measures now have been motivated. With such enemies he doesn’t need any friends.
Maybe many Americans don’t realize how exceptional the United States is? It is already the hub of the world culturally, economically and militarily, and with Trump now it will also be a politically active hub. When he has consolidated his power and strategy, all important decisions in the world will pass through Trump.
Abolishing the UN would damage China’s influence in the world when their veto in the Security Council becomes meaningless. And isn’t North Korea at war with the UN? It might create a new game in the Far as well as in the Middle East. Incompetent corruptocrats are unable to adapt to a quickly changing game, so Trump will reign supreme.
I have a new guideline for predicting political events:
– If it is in Donald j Trump’s interest, it will be done.
” To them, the building of houses for Israelis to live in is more evil that Palestinian and Islamic terrorist bombings, murders, hijackings, and rocket firings ”
Perhaps the Palestinians would calm down if the Israelis stopped building on their land?
The US would hardly be pleased if Mexico or Canada started building settlements over their borders…
( And why on earth does the US provide aid to a prosperous, nuclear armed 1st world country?)
@Lee S
“Perhaps the Palestinians would calm down if the Israelis stopped building on their land?”
What makes you think so? Do you have any examples of precedents of arabs turning the other cheek when altruistically being offered a compromise? Is your imagined scenario even possible? It is almost as if the muslims aren’t Christian! I think that your kind of proposal has always failed hard, killing many innocents. So all of us wonder if you are proposing this certain-to-fail-policy because you are evil or because you are stupid. Or both.
Let’s see now. The UN has been around for about 70 years. Israel and Korea has been its main occupation. And what has the UN achieved?
No, the UN has failed catastrophically and will be abolished within a few weeks now.
I’m shocked I have to state it out loud:
Obama has been an anti-Semite and Israel hater, his ENTIRE (worthless) life. This is nothing new; it’s just morphed into overt, blatant, in-you-face, hard-core, anti-Semitism.
Obama whines about the Russians “interfering in our election,” while he spent American Tax money trying to undermine Israel’s recent election.
Lee S:– we support Israel with economic & military aid, because of our shared Judeo-Christian heritage, they are a loyal ally, and the only democratic, free-market country in the entire Middle East. Zero (less-than-zero) moral-equivalence between Israel and Palestine, and the Mexico/Canada analogy, is faulty.
> It’s their land.
Des– we spend $4 billion/year on free cell phones for “poor-people”, so yeah– we ARE short-changing Israel, big time. Thanks for the idea– we kill the phony “Lifeline Program,” and send Israel $8 billion a year.
Mark Levin
Obama’s Israel hating friends
(2014)
https://youtu.be/7EbyaK-ODuk
(21:17)
Mark Levin:
“The Muslim Brotherhood Has Infiltrated Our Government, It’s Called Barack Obama”
2013
https://youtu.be/XRYP2hPQfwU
(11:41)
“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” from “Audacity of Hope” page 261.
-Barack Hussein Obama
Ben Shapiro:
Obama’s betrayal of Israel & recent anti-Israel resolution from U.N.
(12-23-16)
https://youtu.be/9Lcq_u7UNEo
(18:25)
@localfluff,
Perhaps you are correct and the attacks would not stop, but it would be the right thing to do ( which is, at the end of the day, what this argument is all about… )
And if you are going to claim the moral high ground, it’s best to not be a blatant land thief while claiming it.
Or do you believe that any stronger power has the right to walk over their neighbor?
Many of the comments on this thread make very little sense if you consider the Palestinians as people, instead of the enemy (of a country with a dubious background and which most of you will never visit)
Wayne…
“Zero (less-than-zero) moral-equivalence between Israel and Palestine, and the Mexico/Canada analogy, is faulty.
> It’s their land.”
Read what you wrote there… you were ( unintentionally I’m sure ) correct.
From UN resolution 446…
“that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East”
Can you tell me by what right Israel has to go and build on land taken illegally? Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Lee S: “Perhaps the Palestinians would calm down if the Israelis stopped building on their land?”
Your comment here reveals a stunning ignorance about the situation in Israel that I find quite unfortunate. It is also an ignorance that almost everyone on the left exhibits repeatedly, with an amazing unwillingness to get educated.
For a start Lee, why don’t you read the series of essays I wrote about the actual reality in the West Bank, back in 2013? It is best to read them in sequence, as provided at the above link, but if you don’t have the time, you should especially read The HOAs of Israel and Bigotry in Israel. You would learn something about the actual situation on the ground in the West Bank, and how it is not the Israelis who practice apartheid but the Palestinians.
Or you could read my last essay, Building a real Peace Forest in Israel, to discover that at my core, I am actually not a supporter of the two-state solution or even the state of Israel, as presently created.
Reading these essays however will require an open mind. Considering my life experience with liberals, I think I am thus very justified in my expectation that you will not only not read the essays, you will not even click on the links.
Lee S.;
I’m not travelling down that Rabbit Hole with you.
(I don’t care what the UN proclaims, if they proclaimed 2+2 = 4, I’d wonder what sort of deception they were running.)
Israel is the only democratic, free-market country in the Middle East, a faithful ally with shared Ideals, surrounded by people who pledge to exterminate them all.
Mr. Z- good stuff.
Lee S.: Yowza.
Bob, you do me a disservice… I am not “a liberal” , I am a sceptic, and a humanist, I believe in pursuing policies that work and look after the weak and the vulnerable.
I also have a friend whom I shared a house with for 2 years who is Israeli , and we spent many evenings back in the early 90’s discussing the situation over there… He hated the Palestinians with a passion I have rarely seen… We mostly disagreed, but he taught me a lot about the Israeli position ( along with my ability to swear fluently in Hebrew)
My opinion has only been strengthened over the years since by the actions of Israel, ( and Palestine also )… which is, once again, that if you want to take the moral high ground you must act with morality…
All that said, I will read as many of the links you have posted, and return with my thoughts…
( a thought for you… not everybody with a left wing political leaning is a fascist idiot… however extremist you consider the left to be at the moment, they are at least matched by right wing fanatics at the moment… Both are dangerous)
Lee S. wrote, “You do me a disservice.”
No I do not. You specifically stated something that was patently false (“Perhaps the Palestinians would calm down if the Israelis stopped building on their land?”), and also exhibited an amazing ignorance of the real situation in Israel and the West Bank. I called you on it.
You now say, “if you want to take the moral high ground you must act with morality.” If so, then why is it so terrible that for Israelis to build homes in disputed territories, but it isn’t a big deal that the various terrorist organizations that rule the West Bank and Gaza have made no effort to repudiate their founding principles calling for the destruction of Israel and the killing of all the Jews living there? Who of these two sides is closer to standing on higher moral ground, eh? I think I can spot it, but it seems impossible for you to do so. You demand that Israel give up the disputed territories in the West Bank, but when they did that in Gaza the only compromise they got from Hamas was more rockets fired into Israel and more terrorist attacks.
I’m sorry, but I will make no apologies for pointing out these facts. And I make no apologies if I note your willful blindness to them.
Bob, you are plainly wrong here….
If the disputed territories are indeed disputed, then is not the moral, legal and right thing to do, simply not to build there until the dispute is resolved?
Never mind the history behind the case, if the Israelis were interested in peace they would not build on territory they have no right to under international laws, until the dispute is over.
The same principles apply the world over… I will go as far as to say if it was not for the atrocities of the holocaust, Israels leaders would have been called out, condemned and perhaps prosecuted long before now…
The Jewish State is an artificial creation of us western powers, I do not deny their right to it, but we and they have to accept that fact, and that includes “living with the neighbors”…
As I said, when I have finished with the washing and cleaning I will read as much of the literature you have supplied that I can, but if you can convince me that building on land that is not yours is ok,… I’ll be very surprised.
Lee S. As I say, your intellectual dishonesty here is disappointing. You have great outrage for what the Israelis are doing, but none for the violence committed by the Palestinians and Arabs.
Israel tried your way in Gaza. They gave it up, unilaterally, giving the Palestinians a piece of land where they were given the opportunity to show their good faith and build a new home. “Land for peace!” is the cry the left and the Palestinians and Obama and Kerry and their leftwing ilk have been crying for decades.
The result of that trade in Gaza? The Palestinians have used it as a base to lob rockets into Israel, while voting to make a terrorist organization, Hamas, their leaders, an organization that still demands the genocide of all Jews in Israel.
So much for trading land for peace. It is a lie, has always been a lie, and until the Palestinians and the Arabs show me some indication that they will change their bigoted ways, will continue to be a lie. The lie is designed to get Israel to give in so that their enemies are then in a stronger position to attack them again, with the eventual goal of genocide.
That you refuse to see this is shameful.
Jonah Goldberg at Heritage Foundation
Liberal Fascism
C-Span Book TV 1-9-08
https://youtu.be/eYTrvutFsoE
(1:07:06)
Benjamin Netanyahu:
“Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are not an obstacle to peace…”
https://youtu.be/JMMqypvi3_Q?t=32
http://cdn.freedomsback.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/C0yAsn5XAAEeS5h1.jpg
My most important posting of 2016, I sent it out as an email and was going to post it here on Saturday but I think it belongs here, just for Lee S:
(I jump around here a bit but take some time in understanding this, it is very important, its all about the same thing. Feel free to share it)
George Soros’s ideals and well meaning, but IMO misguided, intentions meet reality. SPLAT!
“If only the world and the humans who inhabit it worked in the way that I want them to work.”
https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/open-society-needs-defending-by-george-soros-2016-12
Soros spends his money supporting many Left leaning political agendas and organizations that in effect, long term, work to undermine America and the American people, and by extension most of the rest of the people on the planet. It all sounds good, it all sounds reasonable and civilized, BUT.
This is also the logic and strategy of the Democrat party (not that the Republicans are much better) and the strategy the Islamic radicals who are using the same to invade America and install the Caliphate (Don’t laugh, this is exactly what their stated intent is and it is underway as per their strategy). From their point of view its only a matter of time before America by its own laws will be forced to submit, and they have plenty of time, 100 years? 1000 years? What ever it takes. This is what Soros and his adherents effectively support. He may not realize it but it is exactly what the result will in time become if not vigorously opposed.
https://youtu.be/TFxNPvns7nU We through our own civility and Constitution provide them their weapons of conquest. Pay attention, this is not a conspiracy theory or crazy talk, take a look at the EU right now, what do you see? Come to America to become American and enjoy true freedom, lets welcome all who endeavor to do so. But do not come to America in order to install here by religious mandate what is over there.
Obama says that we are a Muslim country? https://youtu.be/wmuE-kNgeSA He is very focused on selling this one very specific idea, which in fact is a false narrative, as are most of his narratives. He is a well trained “organizer of communities”.
John Kerry says that Israel can either be a Democracy or a Jewish state, but not both. So the logic follows that by using the Israeli Democrat government model and the rules by which it operates therefore the Israeli’s must surrender their state to Islam because Israel exists in a predominantly Islamic region of the world. This is what the Democrats and Soros by default and by their agenda to influence and control are insisting on America and Americans, they want a direct Democracy. A direct Democracy is chaos, a direct Democracy is death. And they are knowingly using the First Amendment to the Constitution and our laws related to equality as the foundation of this subversion.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2016/12/28/inside-the-coming-war-between-the-united-states-and-the-united-nations/?utm_term=.f801b028fcdb
All in the name of “Democracy”, “Equality” and an “Open Society” (how wonderful!), all unfortunately Leftist and Islamist tools of manipulation and subversion. Pure un American and anti freedom BS. Probably well meaning on Soros’s part, I have it on good authority by a personal friend of his, but in the end this attempt at rethinking by Soros of the Founders concepts and rules of operation in reality destroys what it is that he says that he wants to preserve and extend. His editorial above laments its faltering. (And Hillary would have continued this path, no doubt).
One thing that I have consistently observed, the Founders reasoning on this subject of freedom and governance is consistently proven to be the most effective and workable. Question them not George (not much anyway, there are however some paradoxes that exist that must be rationally dealt with).
Sorry George, lets find a more effective and freedom realistic way for you to spend your billions in order to create actual lasting individual American style freedom for both men and women without necessarily having to first destroy what you profess to love so much, no? There is no “perfect” solution to these issues but there is a “more perfect” solution to get closer to a workable American style solution to the inequities that exist in the world. (Please inform George I am willing to work on this Open Society agenda refocus with him. I do not expect a call)
Happy New Year to all, and I do mean new.
land taken illegally?
The big mistake Israel makes is giving back land they won in a defensive war.
If enemies start a war, then lose land as a result they no longer have a legal right to it.
Doing things as they do only prolongs the suffering of everybody.
Sighs…. holds head in hands… wishes I could break down a barrier or two here…
Bob, I’m off to bed now, and shall begin to read your recommended links…. as I said, I shall return with an opinion.. (if I continue to disagree with you it doesn’t mean I’m a closed minded fascist, I will approach the information with an open mind..)
As for the rest of the commentators, do the same, while holding in your mind that the Palestinians are a people with an unwanted occupation in the middle of their historical land…. this may be hard to understand when you live in such a young country, but as a European who can trace my roots back 900 years in the U.K. I can understand the slight annoyance if someone descends and decides it’s not your country any more, then decides to expand into illegally occupied land.
( and no Ken, it is not “winner takes all”, and has not been for many decades… nice medieval attitude, but these days it’s fairly standard to achieve mission success, then get out without harming the innocent citizens….)
Lee S.:
I just want you to get one thing straight: I am sick and tired of people making excuses for the bigotry, hate, and violence of the Arab and Palestinian communities. I won’t let such excuses pass unchallenged. You have been making excuses for their unexcusable behavior. This is why I call you on it.
Moreover, I have many relatives who live quite peaceably in Israel, in the West Bank, whose lives are directly threatened by this UN resolution and the desire of the Palestinians, the international community, and the Obama administration to ethnically cleanse the Middle East of Jews. I won’t stand by and help them in this effort in any way. And I will oppose anyone who does, including you.
Finally, you say falsely “the Palestinians are a people with an unwanted occupation in the middle of their historical land.” The “Palestinians” did not exist as a people until the mid-1960s. They only exist because the Arab nations of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria would not take in the Jordanian refugees from what had been Jordanian-controlled territory and became Israel. Note also that the Israelis never threw them out, instead asking them to stay and become full citizens, as Israel has done with every Arab that remained in Israel. They fled instead, unfortunately, but then discovered that their so-called Arab allies would rather have them as political pawns, stuck in refugee camps, than absorb them in as citizens. During the six plus decades since the original partition of Trans-Jordan, it has been Israel that has contributed the most money of any nation for helping these refugees.
But then, we mustn’t let facts get in our way, must we? If only the Jews would let the Palestinians kill them everything would be all right!
Note: I have revised my comment here to correct it. I had said that Israel offered to take back the refugees from the 1948 war. This is incorrect.
My solution to the Israel problem, : Give them a 10 mile wide zone across the southern USA border from Brownsville to L.A , about 2k across, like in the old days , thatshow the railroads got all that govt land .By this method, our border security is assured, the middle east can go to the devil…
Orion314 wrote: “My solution to the Israel problem, : Give them a 10 mile wide zone across the southern USA border from Brownsville to L.A , about 2k across.”
Yeah, right, a great idea. Maybe we should also ship all those Jews in rail cars, and build big fences on both sides of the strip, with guard towers so they can’t get out in either direction. Moreover, I think a sign over entrance gate with the words “Work will set you free” will put a good positive stamp on the idea. And if they don’t want to leave their homes in the land they personally consider holy, maybe we should use force to arrest them and make them move.
Yup, that’s real great idea, Orion314. Really great. Are you from Europe, by chance?
Ken Anthony has it right.
Every other Muslim nation on the planet would be happy to win land in a war.
In fact they were more than willing to steal/win/take back the land they gave up for the creation of Israel in the first place. That war ended very badly for them and they ended up loosing WAY more land than Israel occupies even now.
Israel gave back a lot of that land at the end of the war. The rest they kept as a defensive buffer area. Notice the rest of the Arab neighbors are in no mood to try another fight, But they are more than willing to make the Palestinians do the dirty work.
My thought was not to be trite, but rather an idea proposed long ago, giving Israel CONUS land for a home, 1st time I heard was someone offering some place like N Dakota. My reason was legit, going for a win win scenario. It’s a long wayfrom boxcars, and Zyklon B.. If that’s how it sounded, my honest apologies, it was not intent. Anytime one types, it’s always a risk
May 2017 treat us all better….
Orion314: I realized right from the start that boxcars was not your intent, but you still were proposing something like any pie-eyed liberal. It didn’t matter what the people themselves wanted, you had come up with a great idea, without much thought, and were willing to argue for it, with I know a bit of sarcasm, without thinking about it too much.
There is too much of this kind of thinking right now. It is sloppy, and such sloppiness leads to some very bad consequences.