I wasn’t aware an office is capable to “say” anything … the anti-semites slander will arise over the Xmas holydays. Celebrations in Bethlehem for all humanity searching for peace as a newborn in a manger is remembered: Jesus of Nazareth. A voice of hope in a land occupied by Romans  the state of Israel.

○ “To all of our Christian friends around the world, Merry Christmas”

After vote defeat, Netanyahu lashes out at Obama and UN | Times of Israel |

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at US President Barack Obama Friday, accusing him of actively working against Israel at the UN — seemingly abandoning all pretense of diplomatic cautiousness after a US abstention at the Security Council led to the passage of a resolution against settlements.

    “Israel categorically rejects the despicable anti-Israeli resolution at the UN, and will not adhere to it,”
     the Prime Minister’s Office said in a seething statement after the council voted in favor of the motion 14-0.

    “While the Security Council does nothing to prevent the massacre of half a million people in Syria,
    it is shamefully singling out Israel — the only democracy in the Middle East,” the PMO said.

    “The Obama administration not only failed to defend Israel from this harassment at the UN,
    it cooperated with it behind the scenes.”

…
Netanyahu said he would immediately call back Israel’s ambassadors in New Zealand and Senegal — two sponsors of Friday evening’s resolution — for consultations. He also said a planned official visit by Senegal’s foreign minister next month would be cancelled and all Israeli aid programs in Senegal would be halted.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully told the NZ Herald on Friday that while he understands Israel’s opposition to the resolution, “we hope that the friendship that has existed between the two countries will be able to endure regardless of different view on this issue.”

Asked if it was a victory, McCully told the newspaper: “It is a victory for those who are keen to see the Security Council take some action on the Middle East peace process after eight years of complete inaction.”

A follow-up diary on this very topic – Obama Won’t Veto Anti-Israel Resolution @UN.

Update-1 :: The ‘grudge match’ between Obama and Israel ‘has finally reached its peak’

The US’s ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, abstained from voting on the resolution, which has been perceived as a slight against Israel.

“The grudge match” between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “finally reached its peak,” said Jonathan Schanzer, a Middle East analyst and vice president of research at the conservative think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, based in Washington, DC.

“This is a move that Obama has been orchestrating for months, if not years,” Schanzer said, alluding to the chilly relationship between the American and Israeli leaders. “He had several options at his disposal, but a United Nations Security Council resolution is the most permanent among them. Indeed, you can’t unring this bell.”

Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the president decided to have the US abstain from the UN vote on Friday morning after seeing the final text of the resolution. Rhodes added that the notion that Obama’s decision was influenced by Trump’s policies was “absurd.”

Security Council Punch Knocks Netanyahu Down From Hubris to Humiliation

Update-2 :: UNSC Denounces Settlement Building

Please continue below the fold …

Obama Abstains, Security Council Denounces Israeli Settlememts | Tikun Olam |

Oh the rage! The betrayal! The wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth–as the U.S. did as promised after decades of defying U.S. policy and international law, settling 750,000 settlers (almost as many Palestinians as were expelled during Nakba) on conquered territory . It permitted a UNSC resolution (text) denouncing Israeli settlements to pass by abstaining from the vote. Samantha Power’s raised hand was the hand ‘heard round the world.’

Israel knew Obama would only take so much. And in the final throes of his term, the President grew a pair (or perhaps half a pair) and abstained.

A geschrei and gevalt were heard from Hebron to Boro Park, from the prime minister’s office to the Beltway, from Trump Tower to GOP HQ. The hypocrisy and faux outrage were lathered on thick:

    “Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. and will not abide by its terms,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement. “At a time when the Security Council does nothing to stop the slaughter of half a million people in Syria, it disgracefully gangs up on the one true democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and calls the Western Wall ‘occupied territory.’ ”

Of course, the UN is not the only body to blame for the genocide in Syria. We can blame members of the Security Council themselves like Russia and the U.S. We can blame Iran and Saudi Arabia for intervening with millions in weapons and soldiers. We can even blame Israel, which also intervenes regularly to assassinate Iranian generals and Hezbollah commanders there.

Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory | ICJ – The Hague |

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has today rendered its Advisory Opinion in the case concerning the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (request for advisory opinion).

In its Opinion, the Court finds unanimously that it has jurisdiction to give the advisory opinion requested by the United Nations General Assembly and decides by fourteen votes to one to comply with that request.

The Court responds to the question as follows:

– “A. By fourteen votes to one,

    The construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, and its associated régime, are contrary to international law”;

– “B. By fourteen votes to one,

    Israel is under an obligation to terminate its breaches of international law; it is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated, and to repeal or render ineffective forthwith all legislative and regulatory acts relating thereto, in accordance with paragraph 151 of this Opinion”;

– “C. By fourteen votes to one,

    Israel is under an obligation to make reparation for all damage caused by the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem”;

– “D. By thirteen votes to two,

    All States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction; all States parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 have in addition the obligation, while respecting the United Nations Charter and international law, to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that Convention”;

– “E. By fourteen votes to one,

    The United Nations, and especially the General Assembly and the Security Council, should consider what further action is required to bring to an end the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and the associated régime, taking due account of the present Advisory Opinion.

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