hz, Author at Netzach Yisrael

Choosing Not to Veto, Obama Lets Anti-Settlement Resolution Pass at UN Security Council

hzDecember 23, 2016December 23, 2016News

Times of Israel

In a stunning departure from its policy over the last eight years, the Obama administration abstained from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution Friday that demands an immediate halt to all Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, enabling the measure to pass.

Resolution 2334 was approved with 14 member states voting in favor, none voting against and one abstention — the United States. The passage of the resolution was met with applause in the packed chamber. The text also calls on all states “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967” — language that Israel fears will lead to a surge in boycott and sanctions efforts, and that an Israeli official warned would provide “a tailwind for terror.”

The Obama Administration Fires a Dangerous Parting Shot

hzDecember 23, 2016December 25, 2016Articles

Washington Post

Samantha Power

Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the UN

By Editorial Board: President Obama’s decision to abstain on a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements reverses decades of practice by both Democratic and Republican presidents. The United States vetoed past resolutions on the grounds that they unreasonably singled out Jewish communities in occupied territories as an obstacle to Middle East peace, and that U.N. action was more likely to impede than advance negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
The measure, approved 14 to 0 by the Security Council Friday, is subject to the same criticism: It will encourage Palestinians to pursue more international sanctions against Israel rather than seriously consider the concessions necessary for statehood, and it will give a boost to the international boycott and divestment movement against the Jewish state, which has become a rallying cause for anti-Zionists. At the same time, it will almost certainly not stop Israeli construction in the West Bank, much less in East Jerusalem, where Jewish housing was also deemed by the resolution to be “a flagrant violation under international law.”

hzDecember 23, 2016News

Aljazeera

Egypt agreed to postpone a vote on a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements after US president-elect Donald Trump called President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president’s office said.

Egypt had circulated the draft late on Wednesday, demanding Israel halt settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, and a vote was initially scheduled for Thursday.

hzDecember 23, 2016News

Times of Israel

Four countries reportedly issued Egypt with an ultimatum, threatening to bring forward a UN Security Council resolution demanding a halt to Israel’s West Bank settlement activity if Cairo does not reintroduce the draft, hours after it was suddenly shelved.

in a note, New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia and Senegal gave Egypt until the end of Thursday to clarify how it intended to proceed, Reuters reported. They were to meet Friday morning to discuss next steps.

hzDecember 23, 2016News

Times of Israel

Egypt said its president received a call from President-elect Donald Trump in which they both agreed to give the incoming US administration a chance to try and resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The call came hours after Egypt indefinitely postponed a UN vote on its Security Council resolution criticizing Israeli settlements, following pressure from Israel and Trump, who had called on members to veto it.

hzDecember 22, 2016December 23, 2016Articles

Tablet

By Armin Rosen: The Brookings Institution’s Saban Center is a fixture of Washington’s Middle East policy establishment. Prime ministers and secretaries of state have spoken at the center’s yearly forum, and when a respected Brookings-affiliated researcher finds that a 46 percent plurality of Americans back U.S. action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the UN, the think tank’s imprimatur strongly suggests that the finding reflect some broader reality in public opinion. But University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami’s latest poll of American attitudes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, published earlier this month, is worth a closer look, both in spite of, and because of, its lofty provenance. Along with its discovery of a broad base of support for prospective American peacemaking efforts at the UN, the study contains a number of startling findings.

According to the survey, 55 percent of Democrats agree with the statement that Israel is a burden to the United States—but 70 percent also agree with the statement that the country is an “important ally.” Some 46 percent of respondents—including 60 percent of Democrats—agree with the U.S. imposing “economic sanctions or more serious action” over Israel’s West Bank settlement policies. Only 34 percent of respondents, and just a slim 51 percent majority of Republicans, support the U.S. using its Security Council veto to block a resolution on Palestinian statehood.

hzDecember 22, 2016December 23, 2016News

Algemeiner

An Israeli startup is promoting three new robots meant to aid soldiers in the field, Globes reported on Thursday.

One of the unmanned ground vehicles built by Roboteam — the MTGR — is a lightweight tactical robot “designed for patrol missions and intelligence gathering, and can deal with bombs as well as help protect soldiers fighting in an urban environment,” the report said.

hzDecember 22, 2016December 23, 2016News

Algemeiner

The British government is looking to bolster trade ties with Israel, a top UK official said this week.

In response to a question posed by Mark McInnes — a Scottish Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords — about the state of the economic relationship between Scotland and the Jewish state, Minister of State for Trade Policy Mark Price said, “The value of trade in goods between Scotland and Israel was £75 million (roughly $100 million) in 2015. This does not include services, which will make this figure considerably higher.”

hzDecember 22, 2016December 22, 2016Articles

Ynetnews

By Prof. Eli Podeh: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is another layer in Israel’s policy to strengthen its ties with what former Minister Ephraim Sneh refers to as “the new periphery.”

Similar to the “old periphery” idea of the late 1950s, when Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion searched for allies in the region against Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Nasserism and found Turkey, Iran and Ethiopia – the revolution in Iran, the Soviet Union’s dissolution, the occupation of Iraq, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the Arab Spring created new circumstances for cooperation.

hzDecember 22, 2016News

Reuters

The United States intended to allow the U.N. Security Council to approve a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, two Western officials said on Thursday, a major reversal of U.S. practice of protecting Israel from such criticism.

Egypt, which had proposed the draft resolution, abruptly put off a vote that had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon and diplomats said Cairo had acted under pressure from Israel and to avoid alienating U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Choosing Not to Veto, Obama Lets Anti-Settlement Resolution Pass at UN Security Council

The Obama Administration Fires a Dangerous Parting Shot

Egypt: Trump Convinced Sisi to Withdraw UN Resolution

4 Security Council Members to Egypt: Push Anti-Settlement Draft or We Will

Egypt: Trump Should Have Chance to End Mideast Conflict

How Do Americans Feel About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Now?

Israeli Startup Promotes Three New Robots Meant to Help Soldiers on the Battlefield

UK Government Official: Britain Committed to Further Strengthening Economic Ties With Israel

Azerbaijan, Israel’s Mistress on the Iranian Border

US Intended to Allow Passage of UN Draft Critical of Israel: Officials