I suppose this stuff should surprise me but it really doesn’t:
In a major shift in US policy toward Israel, Colum Lynch reports that the U.S. was poised to support a Security Council statement denouncing Israel’s settlement construction.
The substance of the resolution is nothing this Administration hasn’t said before, but the decision to give legitimacy to a forum Israel views as hopelessly biased is both an olive branch to Arab leaders and a dramatic breach with an ally. It follows the real collapse of the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu, whom the White House views as hopelessly intransigent, and will provoke a real confrontation with pro-Israel American politicians of both parties.
UPDATE: The Administration is negotiating over a statement, not a resolution — a weaker measure, but still a real breach. But Lynch adds on Twitter that Palestinian leaders have rejected the statement offer, and are proceeding with a resolution, which the White House has said it would veto.
UPDATE: Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, signals that pro-Israel Democrats aren’t going to be on board with this:
This is too clever by half. Instead of doing the correct and principled thing and vetoing an inappropriate and wrong resolution, they now have opened the door to more and more anti-Israeli efforts coming to the floor of the U.N. The correct venue for discussions about settlements and the other aspects of a peace plan is at the negotiating table. Period.
David Limbaugh (Rush’s brother) tweeted this this:
Rebuking Israel about settlements ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY. THIS INSANITY IS BEYOND REPREHENSIBLE. NO I WONT STOP YELLING!!!!!
I completely agree with David’s tweet though I’m not outraged about it. Not because it isn’t outrageous, because it is. However, I think I’ve been outraged so much over the last two years that I don’t have any left.