Israel, Fearful Of The Final Moments Of Barack Obama In Office - The Reason

Between right now and Jan. 20, 2017, is a real "pressure point" for U.S. relations with Israel.

Barack Obama has always desired to "leave a legacy" in the Middle East, and at this point the only option for accomplishing anything tangible is through the United Nations.

The Israeli government is extremely concerned that Obama may attempt to take such action before he leaves office, and so they recently asked Secretary of State John Kerry if the U.S. would promise to veto any anti-Israel resolutions that come before the UN Security Council for the rest of Obama's time in the White House. Unfortunately for Israel, the New York Post is reporting that Kerry flatly refused to make such a promise:

Israel faces a unique window of danger from Nov. 9 to Jan. 20: What might President Obama do in his final days in office to slam the Jewish state?

Start with Secretary of State John Kerry's recent flat refusal to promise a US veto on any upcoming anti-Israel resolution in the UN Security Council.

On Saturday, Haaretz reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Kerry he's counting on Washington to stick to its policy of nixing anti-Israel resolutions. Kerry's reply: The administration has yet to make a decision on the matter.

Barack Obama knows that he is the only one standing in the way of a U.N. Security Council resolution that would formally recognize a Palestinian state, that would set the basic parameters for that state, and that would grant the Palestinians East Jerusalem as their capital.

If Obama decided not to use the U.S. veto power to block such a resolution, it would be legally binding on both Israel and the Palestinians, and the next president would not be able to go back and reverse course. It would take another U.N. Security Council vote to rescind the resolution once it has been passed, and the votes would simply not be there to do that.

So there is a great deal of concern about what Obama may do during his last few months in the White House. In fact, there is so much concern in Congress that 88 U.S. Senators sent him a letter last month asking him to continue to block any anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations.

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of pressure on Obama to support such a resolution. About a week ago, I wrote about how the New York Times editorial board has actually formally endorsed a U.N. resolution that would establish a Palestinian state. For the most important newspaper in America to take such a stand is extraordinary.

136 countries have already recognized a Palestinian state, and the international pressure on Obama to do something before he leaves the White House is intense. The Obama administration has not indicated which way they are going to go just yet, and that is leaving many people very, very nervous.

And without a doubt, the United Nations has moved in a very anti-Israel direction recently. If you have not heard about it yet, last week UNESCO (the cultural arm of the United Nations) adopted an anti-Israel resolution that denies Israel's historic connection to the Temple Mount. The following comes from Haaretz:

UNESCO adopted an anti-Israel resolution Thursday that disregards Judaism's historic connection to the Temple Mount and casts doubt on the link between Judaism and the Western Wall.

Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the decision while six voted against and 26 abstained while just two were missing from the vote.

Incredibly, the resolution says that the Temple Mount is sacred only to Muslims, and it accuses Israel of being "the occupying Power."

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