‘ABSOLUTELY SHAMEFUL’

Critics blast US as abstention clears way for UN to condemn Israeli settlements.

A “shameful” abstention by the U.S. in a United Nations vote Friday allowed passage of a resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

The UN Security Council resolution was put forward by four nations a day after Egypt withdrew it Thursday under pressure from Israel and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Failure by the U.S. to veto the measure was seen as a double-cross of America’s key Middle Eastern ally, and attributed directly to outgoing President Barack Obama, who has had chilly relations with Israel throughout his eight-year tenure.

Reaction from U.S. Republicans and Jewish leaders around the world was swift and sharp.

“It was to be expected that Israel’s greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share and that they would have vetoed this disgraceful resolution,” said Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon. “I have no doubt that the new U.S. administration and the incoming UN Secretary General will usher in a new era in terms of the UN’s relationship with Israel.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., blasted the Obama administration for undermining America’s historic Middle East ally.

“This is absolutely shameful,” Ryan said. “Today’s vote is a blow to peace that sets a dangerous precedent for further diplomatic efforts to isolate and demonize Israel.”

Minutes after the vote, Trump took to Twitter to express his opposition.

The measure was adopted with 14 votes in favor, to a round of applause, after U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power abstained. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.

“The resolution is too narrowly focused on settlements when we all know, or all should know” there are other factors that contribute to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, Power said in an explanation for why the U.S. chose to sit on the fence, which ensured passage of the resolution.

The resolution, warning that Israeli settlement expansion is “steadily eroding the two-state solution and entrenching a one-state reality,” calls on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activity in occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.” It repeated the longstanding UN position that all settlements on land Israel conquered in 1967 are illegal under international law.

A senior Israeli official accused the U.S. of a “shameful move” after learning that it did not intend to veto the text, the BBC reported.

A senior Israeli official told The Associated Press: “President Obama and Secretary [of State John] Kerry are behind this shameful move against Israel at the U.N.

“The U.S. administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israel’s back which would be a tail-wind for terror and boycotts and effectively make the Western Wall [the Jewish holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem] occupied Palestinian territory.”

Most of those critical of the move by the U.S. painted it as a stab in Israel’s back delivered by Obama.

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