As Secretary of State, John Kerry more or less acts as a mouthpiece for Obama’s policies, and in the two terms of Obama’s presidency, Middle East watchers have witnessed the relationship between Obama and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu grow chillier and chillier.
Many observers of Middle Eastern affairs rightly suspected that Obama was not as pro-Israel as he’s claimed to be in the past. And now that his final term is coming to an end, Obama has chosen to show his true colors by having the United States abstain from a United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
This turn of events, which was rumored, but nonetheless mostly unexpected, made waves in Washington and in Tel Aviv. Although abstaining from the unanimous vote in favor of the resolution won’t have any effect on it, the symbolic nature of the action leaves no doubt in terms of how Obama looks at the issue.
It’s well known that Netanyahu intends to press ahead with settlements and doesn’t favor a two-state solution to the Palestinian question. Harsh words by John Kerry at the State Department calling for the latter did nothing to assuage the situation.
While it’s likely that President-Elect Trump will reverse Obama’s position on Israel and settlement building, this open enmity toward one of America’s strongest allies in the region is a parting shot that lays Obama’s intentions bare. Watch this clip to hear how Kerry spins the issue.
