BACKLASH! Congress Threatens to Defund UN Over Anti-Israel Vote
Ambassador Samantha Power, who represents the United States at the UN Security Council, sat mum on Friday when the chair called for votes against an anti-Israel resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal. But she raised her hand high when the chair called for abstentions.
She, and her boss, President Barack Obama, could have voted no, in keeping with precedent, and in deference to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. Instead, they let the resolution pass.
In anticipation of Obama’s suspected — now confirmed — abstention, members of Congress threatened to de-fund the UN. The U.S. accounts for some 22% of the UN’s budget, supporting a large, comfortable bureaucracy and its various programs.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) issued a statement, warning:
This provocative action by the United Nations is an outrage and must be dealt with sternly and forcefully.
As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I oversee the United States assistance to the United Nations. The United States is currently responsible for approximately 22 percent of the United Nations total budget.
If the United Nations moves forward with the ill-conceived resolution, I will work to form a bipartisan coalition to suspend or significantly reduce United States assistance to the United Nations.
In addition, any nation which backs this resolution and receives assistance from the United States will put that assistance in jeopardy.
Others joined Graham’s call to defund the UN, including Sen. James Lankford (R-OH). The Republican Jewish Coalition issued a statement also calling for defunding the UN:
By allowing the United Nations’ anti-Israel resolution to be adopted by the Security Council, in the face of fierce bi-partisan opposition, the actions of the Obama Administration will forever be remembered as a dark, shameful moment for our country. The resolution passed today will only serve as a greater barrier to peace, which can only truly be achieved through negotiations. Instead of pressuring the Palestinians to be a partner for peace, President Obama chose to break with long standing diplomatic practices and allowed the one-sided, anti-Israel United Nations to be used as a tool to bludgeon Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East.
We applaud the efforts of Republican Senators, led by Senator Graham, to strip funding to the United Nations, which has time and again showed their anti-Israel bias. What happened today will forever be on the heads of the President, his Party, and groups like J Street that remained silent.
The passage of the resolution marks the Obama administration’s final stab in the back against Israel, on its way out the door and in defiance of the results of the November election, when voters chose Trump’s more assertive U.S. foreign policy.
In the hours before the vote, American Jewish organizations otherwise friendly to the Obama administration, such as the Union for Reform Judaism, belatedly mobilized to urge the Obama administration to veto the resolution. It was all to no avail.
In her statement attempting to justify the Obama administration’s failure to exercise its veto, Power cited a statement by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 opposing further Israeli settlements. She argued — incorrectly — that opposition to Israeli settlements had been the policy of every U.S. administration since 1967, ignoring the fact that President George W. Bush had assured Israel it would accept some settlements, as a reward for Israel’s recognition of the Palestinian aspiration to statehood.
Power attempted to cover the Obama administration’s backstabbing by noting that Israel is unfairly singled out for criticism by the UN: “Israel continues to be treated differently than other UN member states,” she said.
Yet even as Power said those words, she and the Obama administration participated in precisely that kind of singling out — subjecting Israel to criticism that no other states in similar situations had ever faced, in a week when the city of Aleppo fell to the genocidal Syrian regime.
She further argued that the U.S. would have blocked any resolution that threatened Israeli security. The implication was that a resolution that is factually and legally false, and which rewards Palestinians for decades of terror, does not harm Israel.
Power stated that “we cannot stand in the way of this resolution as we seek to preserve a chance to attain” the goal of a two-state solution. The claim flies in the face of Israeli efforts to renew negotiations — even to freeze settlement construction — in vain.
President-elect Trump had managed to keep the resolution at bay the day before by opposing it publicly, and by convincing Egypt to withdraw it from the agenda. But the Obama administration, aided by temporary Security Council members New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela, and Senegal, persisted.
The vote is a watershed: Israel faces a new and more hostile diplomatic reality, and the myth of bipartisan support for Israel has been shattered forever. Democrats will now bear an anti-Israel legacy.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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Good Let them. This was a Trick by Obama another Fools joke like the LBGT bathroom April Fools election year shannagons.
Why has this black bastard not been impeached? My only question.
And mine. Our own representatives left the country spinning in the wind with this clown. He should have been shut down before he started. Talk about not qualified. A neighborhood trouble maker and an absent senator. I just hope that someone is noticing this resident lame duck Jack ass is not just hurting Trump by all this petty vengeance, he is hurting innocent people here and abroad. Just so he can show his arrogant ass. All my 62 years on this ball of dirt I have never seen a president try to interfere and openly disrupt another president. The more he can disrupt and cause division amongst fellow Americans the happier he is. I keep repeating that there is a law about yelling fire in the theater, and that old nugget about inciting a riot….. Sorry, I get going about this and I just can’t hush. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and may God Bless.
Gomer…Exactly My Question… As Well!
I don’t even think the blacks like this narcissist half-breed. He is the phoniest sob I’ve seen in government control ever..and it’s history. I don’t really look for him to live no more than 2 yrs after he leaves office. Someone w/whack him and possibly all his family. That’s just my 2 cents of opinion.
get out of the U N stop any funds going to those countries that are in the U N
This is a outrage ,and a slap in the face to all Jewish people..Obama is a disgrace!
And Jews keep on electing those who wish them bad, Those meaning Democrat’s.. When will Jews wake up, smell the truth about Democrat’s,
That is just one of the mysteries of his support, which slips a little bit more every day. How can anyone support a man that is sociopathic at the very least. He is like a rat bully getting pushed into a corner. Not to be trusted and very dangerous. I have no idea what if anything he might have planned. But since he is losing support he will need to make a move sooner rather than later. I know there are representatives that are openly talking about harassing Trump on the floors of the Senate and Congress, (which I hope they get dismissed from office, all part of draining the swamp I suppose) but what in the world could the Jack Ass do between now and January 20th. ?
That’s a good question…
Obama keeps telling us how great he is and blathering on about his precious legacy….while stabbing himself in the back with clearly transparent vicious acts. His acts far outweigh his TAQIYYA. You can’t trust any muslim when their slick beloved quran promotes lies and decption thru 5 acts, taqiyya being the most used. And something Obama used even pre 2008 election when he claimed to be Christian…a blatent lie by ‘Hussein’. That Hussein sent chills up my spine from day one and I never voted for the asswipe.
I truly believe he is staying in Washington D.C. to promote a shadow government with the funds of Soros, and not for his children to remain in their schools. He is not to be trusted and I admire Trump for thumbing his nose at Obama’s advice. Trump may have some adversaries in Congress, but he also has some major support there and around the world. I think America will soon have all its’ ducks in a row and islam will be on the losing end.
Congress would not have put the skids on Obama and his last minute ‘executive orders’ if he had as much support as liberals claim. Much of what Obama has done can be undone and soon we will be on a better path to become great again. Merry Christmas everyone….I hope y’all asked for Freedom of Speech to remain an American staple.
Kick them out of the USA and stop giving them money.
In the UN each country has 1 vote…….do the math ……there are 57 Muslim Nations …….time to defund and drop out
When will Jews understand that liberals are anti Semites?
My dad passed a few years ago but when he was alive he called people like Barry Hussein Soetoro “Savages”. He did it discreetly but he knew what he was saying.
This is all for good. Trump needs support from congress in getting us out of UN anyway. This is a hidden gift.
As a Christian I could never understand why the Jewish community largely voted for Democrats and those who wish for their demise. I sincerely hope that this betrayal turns that around. Not all democrats are anti-Semitic, but-they tend to vote along party lines and their party line is officially anti-Semitic. It is the same as gun control-not all democrats are against 2A but the party line is so most democrats vote along that line. For the preservation of the Jewish State and freedom’s only outpost in the SW Region, I hope American Jews will remember the Democrat Anti-Semitism when they are in the polls.
Not to worry! Bibi will have his lackey in place in January. He’ll bomb Iran’s nuke facilities and ask the U.S.A. to finish the job, because an air raid will not do it. We’ll be in another Middle East quagmire in short order. With a new war and tax cuts, we’ll be looking at even “huuuger” debt and more dead soldiers.