Israel’s prime minister turned to President-elect Donald Trump to help head off a critical U.N. resolution after learning that the White House did not intend to veto the measure, an Israeli official said Friday.
The admission marked a final chapter in the icy relations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama over the last eight years, and signaled an era of close ties between Israel and the incoming Trump administration.
The Egyptian-sponsored resolution had demanded that Israel halt settlement activities in occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians and declared that existing settlements “have no legal validity.”
But under heavy Israeli pressure, Egypt called off a planned vote in the Security Council hours before it was to take place. In the diplomatic activity ahead of the postponement, both Netanyahu and Trump issued nearly identical statements urging the U.S. to veto the measure.
“After becoming aware that the administration would not veto the anti-Israel resolution, Israeli officials reached out to Trump’s transition team to ask for the president-elect’s help to avert the resolution,” the Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity.
On Friday, Egypt said its president had received a call from Trump in which they both agreed to give the incoming U.S. administration a chance to try and resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The call came hours after Egypt indefinitely postponed the U.N. vote.
A statement from the Egyptian presidency said the two men spoke by phone early Friday and agreed on “the importance of giving a chance for the new American administration to deal in a comprehensive way with the different aspects of the Palestinian issue with the aim of achieving a comprehensive and a final resolution.”
The U.S., along with the Palestinians and nearly all of the international community, opposes Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as obstacles to peace. Some 600,000 Israelis live in the two territories, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war.
Although the U.S. opposes the settlements, it has traditionally used its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council to block resolutions condemning Israel, saying that disputes between Israel and the Palestinians must be resolved through negotiations. But after eight years of failed peace efforts during the Obama Administration, Israel has expressed concern the outgoing president would take an audacious step to leave his mark on the region. In recent weeks, the White House had been especially secretive about its deliberations.
Trump has signaled he will be far more sympathetic to Israel. His campaign platform made no mention of the establishment of a Palestinian state, a core policy objective of Democratic and Republican presidents over the past two decades. He also has vowed to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that would put the U.S. at odds with the Palestinians and the rest of the international community, and his pick for ambassador to Israel, Jewish-American lawyer David Friedman, is a donor and vocal supporter of the settlements.
The proposed resolution would have been more than symbolic. While it did not call for imposing sanctions on Israel, its language could have hindered Israel’s negotiating position in future peace talks. Given the widespread international opposition to the settlements, it would have been nearly impossible for the Trump administration to reverse it.
It remained unclear Friday whether the measure would come up for a vote in the council before Obama leaves office.
There was no immediate Palestinian reaction to Thursday’s delay at the U.N.
In a Christmas greeting on Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: “Despite the Israeli occupation, our presence in our homeland and the preservation of our cultural and national heritage are the most important form of resistance in the face of the darkness of a foreign colonialist occupying power.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I tried to find out what we spend each year with the worthless UN the latest total I could find is from 2010 and that was $7.5 Billion, what a waste! get out of the UN and send them out of the USA!
I’m with you,Joe HUFFMAN I WISH PRESIDENT TRUMP WOULD GET US OUT OF THE COMMUNIST ASS UN, THEY WANT TO CONTROL THE WORLD, JUST FOR GEORGE SOROS !! They want to try to force their SO CALLED SMALL ARMS TREATY ON US PRETENDING IT IS JUST A INTERNATIONAL REGISTER OF GUNS !!! They WANT TO KNOW WHO HAS GUNS SO THEY CAN SEND THE UN TROOPS OUT TO CONFISCATE ALL GUNS SO WE WILL BE DEFENSLESS THUS UNDER THEIR CONTROL!! IN CASE PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THE UN HAS PEOPLE OF THE US THINKING THEY ONLY HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND WHEN IN FACE THE UN HATES THE US BECAUSE WE HAVE A CONSTITUTION THAT KEEPS US FREE BUT THE UN WANTS US TO GIVE UP OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS SO THEY CAN CONTROL US THUS THE ONE WORLD ORDER WHERE THE WORLD IS RULED BY A COMMUNIST GROUP KNOWN AS THE UN ALONG WITH ALL THE RICH ELITES OF THE WORLD AND TO THIS I SAY BULLSHIT, I WISH TO REMAIN FREE AND I FOR ONE WILL DIE FIGHTING THOSE EVIL SONSABITCHES !!!
PLEASE PRESIDENT TRUMP GET THE US OUT OF THE UN AND GET THE UN OUT OF THE UNITED STATES !!!!
I agree that UN is a worthless, toothless wonder. The resolutions aren’t even good for toilet paper.
It is time to get out of the UN
NEVER SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN MIXED UP WITH THEM ANYWAY, JUST A GIANT GLOBALIST POLICE FORCE, TO DO SUM COUNTRIES BIDDING. IT WAS A BIG WISH OF OBUMBA TO HAVE THE UN COLLECT OUR FIRE ARMS, WITH MORE GLOBALIST LAWS, LIKE AGENDA 21, THANK YOU AL GORE THE HEAD SOCALIST FOR DREAMING ALL THIS UP AND HIS GLOBALIST WEALTHY PALS, TRYING TO PUSH THESE PLANS ON AMERICANS.
Remember God’s promises to Abraham, I will Bless the nations and peoples that Bless you, and Curse them that Curse you! Which one do you want, America! Down through eons of history, it has been proven we as a nation have been Blessed by Blessing Israel! Keep it going USA!!!!!
Haha…….Tipper, (x-wife) was the more intelligent one in that marriage. Al Gore definately needs a brain transplant. There is very little that is real about him.
O- bomb-us has a real identity problem with men/women that has far more intelligence than he,, (which doesn’t take much).
That’s why his cabinet are who they are,, puppets on his string.
The President Elect and Mr. Netanyahu are two very intelligent men who knows the ways of the World and what it takes to bring peace through-out.