It’s not like the US president thinks this will change anything.
That was the message President Barack Obama’s aides offered after the US, at his order, abstained from a landmark UN Security Council vote censuring Israel over its settlement enterprise.
White House officials knew this would only infuriate and entrench the Israeli government.
They knew they were too short on time in power to turn this bold move into an actionable point of leverage.
But years of private and public efforts had convinced them of two certainties: that they had tried everything to stop Israel from continuing settlement construction ‐ which they are convinced erodes the possibility of a two-state solution ‐ and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would stop at nothing to continue building.
Obama’s abstention was born of pure frustration among his top staff over the futility of their efforts. It was an acknowledgment of their failure, as they characterized the move as their least preferable option and one riddled with adverse consequences.
To quote John Derbishire from 2008 "Another African Socialist" |