Posted on 04/13/2014 5:31:52 PM PDT by SkyPilot
US officials expressed anger over Israel's policy of "non-interference" with the Russian annexation of the Crimea; Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported.
A US official told the paper that the White House was disappointed with Israel's absence from the UN General Assembly meeting two weeks ago to vote on condemning Russia's military invasion of the Crimea and call to maintain Ukraine's territorial integrity.
"We have been consulting closely on Ukraine not only with our partners and allies around the world. Obviously we are looking to the entire international community to condemn Russia's actions and to support Ukraine, so we were surprised to see that Israel did not join the large majority of countries that voted to support Ukraine's territorial integrity at the United Nations. Israel's justification that it did not attend the meeting due to the Foreign Ministry strike is unacceptable" said the senior US official.
The US official said that Washington is particularly angry with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's failure to publically support the US position on the crisis.
According to Haaretz the US is especially disappointed with FM Lieberman who equated Israel's relations with the United States to its relations with Russia. Lieberman is reported to have told Channel 9 that Israel has "good and trusting relations with the Americans and the Russians, and our experience has been very positive with both sides". The official said "I do not understand this point of view, which calls for Israel to be dragged into this quagmire".
(Excerpt) Read more at middleeastmonitor.com ...
We won’t even recognize their capital. Why would they help ketchup-face?
Israel doesn’t owe the US crap at this point.
Is this another clever satire?
Who is US black man?
“That’s really disturbing.”
Ya think?
Does your knee hurt when it jerks like that? When did this become a discussion about Israel being a Jewish state?? Stay on topic.
Oh, and for what it's worth ... Netanyahu whines all over the world. But it seems to work for him.
Yes, I do. I hope I'm not the only one holding this view.
It doesn't work that way. Any time the US needs to pass a resolution it introduces, they specifically ask Israel not to support it. Israel support of any resolution will automatically result in dozens of opposing votes.
When we support Israel, we oppose the world. When we need the world's support, we politely ask Israel to abstain.
The fact that this Administration doesn't understand this screams of incompetence and naivete. And now they want to make Israel a scapegoat for their own failure at leadership? This is not the America I was born in.
When your foreign policy is incoherent, and driven by the ideological delusions of a criminally insane president, all sorts of weird things are liable to happen, none of them good.
Would you say that Israel carries the same weight in world affairs as the US? If not, then your question is irrelevant and frankly rather obtuse.
The United States, otherwise known as C.H.A.O.S.
You brought it up, whether you meant to or not.
Nonsense. I did not in any way bring up the "Jewish State" issue. Go away and use your "splatter and see what sticks to the wall" approach to a rational discussion with someone else.
This is already an excellent answer in itself. But there are additional reasons. For example, why should Israel side with the loser against the winner? (Whatever you say, Ukraine lost this round, and is standing ready to lose another, all due to internal strife.)
Israel is a small country. It has to choose partners wisely. Russia is huge, and it is friendly, and about 20% of Israel's population speaks Russian. Only an idiot would start making waves against Russia, and only a patented idiot (or Kerry) would think that this could be effective. Israel clearly sees that the USA wants to use Israel as an expendable tool. There is no reason to become involved. The international arena is not much different from the martial arts arena; the weak get beaten up, the strong rise. The international law is only effective to the extent that the signers are willing to honor. If a treaty becomes inconvenient, the country leaves the treaty. It's a very different world out there.
In addition to all that, Israel is located in a very fluid geography. Israel already controls territories that it acquired in a war. It is surrounded by less than friendly states. Additional territories can be acquired in the future from excessively restless neighbors, or from neighbors that become failed states and threaten Israel. Lines on maps are not permanent; they only represent the current situation on the ground. As the situation changes, so do the lines. Believing in anything else is wishful thinking: borders are established by the people, and they can be changed by the people. For example:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, [...]
No, it's neither irrelevant or obtuse, rather or otherwise.
I have been curious for two decades about why the US considers Israel a "great" geopolitical ally. To date, no one has been able to give a non-emotional answer.
I remain curious.
There's a lot of bad blood on both sides. But in my opinion Netanyahu made a grand strategic blunder during his meeting with Obama when as a guest of the President, in the oval office, Netanyahu publically lectured the President of the United States about the 1967 borders.
Like Obama or hate him, this was a diplomatic mistake for the history books. It set the tone for the next eight years. That Obama hasn't seriously reduced aid to Israel is the unsung miracle.
So, yes, Israel is dissed by this administration. But Israel has not always shown restraint or respect either.
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