Britain just betrayed America at the United Nations
European allies, most notably Britain, helped isolate America at the United Nations Monday, demonstrating how even the most special of relationships stops at the water’s edge of Israel’s Mediterranean shores.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley vetoed an Arab-proposed Security Council resolution Monday that rebuked President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and start the process of moving the US embassy there. All other 14 Security Council members supported the anti-American resolution.
Haley berated UN member states for their hypocrisy. On the one hand, she noted, they complained that Trump’s decision “prejudges” final-status issues. On the other, she said, they rely on the United Nations, despite being “disproportionally hostile” to Israel, to weigh in on all kinds of issues regarding Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
And sure enough, British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft proved her point, in his statement supporting the resolution criticizing Trump: “The status of Jerusalem should be determined through a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
Fine, but then Rycroft contradicted his own justification for the very shenanigans he was there to argue in favor of by quickly adding that Jerusalem must “ultimately be the shared capital” of Palestine and Israel, followed by a host of other stale UN-imposed preconditions for what ultimate peace should entail.
With these, what’s left for Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate?
Prior to the vote, knowing full well Haley would veto the proposed resolution, Rycroft and other envoys from American-allied countries worked behind the scenes to make sure the United States would stand alone in opposition. They watered down the language, weeded out explicit anti-American statements and dutifully anchored the text in past council resolutions.
Haley wasn’t buying it. “Buried in diplomatic jargon, some presume to tell America where to put our embassy,” she said, reminding council members the US contributes more to Palestinian causes than they do.
The Security Council should be “embarrassed,” she said. When the American people see Turtle Bay uniting against them, they “lose their patience” with the UN, she noted, adding the vote was “an insult that will not be forgotten.”
Come on, some snickered. This isn’t about the American people, but about President Trump.
Haley reminded council members that in 1980, when the UN still considered Zionism to be racist, they voted for a resolution demanding all countries rescind embassies from Israel’s capital. President Jimmy Carter’s UN ambassador, Edmund Muskie, warned the council even then that their resolution wasn’t binding, and did nothing to advance peace.
But Rycroft stuck to his guns. “The British embassy in Israel is based in Tel Aviv, and we have no plan to move it,” he declared defiantly.
This is one of those fictitious positions loved by world diplomats. By ignoring reality, they believe, peace is advanced. So they pretend there’s “one China” rather than two countries, China and Taiwan. Or assert wars have “no military solution,” even as no political pact is in sight.
Jerusalem’s status is the mother of all such fictions.
Let’s imagine one of Rycroft’s next diplomatic postings will be in Israel. Before he decides what curtains should grace his Tel Aviv-based embassy, he’ll need to present his credentials to the Israeli president. Where? In the president’s official residence, which since 1949 has been located in Jerusalem.
What kind of capital nonrecognition is that?
As Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon noted, when Europeans wish Jews a happy Hanukkah, they don’t seem to realize the holiday celebrates a 2,000-year-old miracle in, well, that city they can’t bring themselves to send ambassadors to because of some dead-end diplomacy they don’t want to upset.
But on Monday Turtle Bay didn’t just turn its back on Israel. The Security Council vote was a clear rebuke of America, which incidentally is a UN founder, its host and most generous contributor.
Prime Minister Theresa May and most Brits were rightly outraged when Trump recently retweeted a video posted by Jayda Fransen, a fringe, bigoted, far-right anti-Muslim London activist.
But that outrage occurred in the virtual wild world of Twitter, rather than in an official global forum largely seen as determining international law.
At the Security Council, Britain and other Europeans have often joined anti-Israel stampedes in the past. On Monday they helped sharpen the UN’s long-hidden but ever-present resentment of America.
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