Page 26 - Abstaining News Today

In the best interests of peace. abstaining isnt in the best interest of peace. it emboldeneds the pro-palestinian crowd and, one more thing, and the other part of this is the numbers, the u.n., we spend $3 billion that we put towards the budget. we spend 8 billion on u.s. initiatives. cut it in half. >> go ahead, kennedy. what do you think about this? i dont see any upside. i think the blow back has surprised the president. >> and its sad that this is a legacy that these two men leave behind. an...

From traveling to or meeting with officials of the country that voted in favor of the anti-israeli resolution. israeli officials continue to say they have evidence the obama administration orchestrated and crafted the resolution. at todays briefing, state department deputy spokesman toner tried to deflect the blame. >> did not take the lead in drafting this resolution. that was done by the egyptians with the palestinians. >> reporter: the are resolution passed 14-0 with the u.s. abstaining break...

Resolution, initiating it and pushing for its passage at the united nations, despite them abstaining. have you, andrea, have you seen u.s./israeli relationships ever at this level? and what does this mean going forward for the relationship between the united states and israel? >> well, two points, quickly. i have seen really terrible relations between reagan and bacon and other past administrations. there are some tensions in bush xli and israels prime minister then and jim baker, the secretary ...

For exactly the reasons that professor dershowitz said. this makes illegal much of the israeli negotiating position. but jim, the other thing it does is, its -- its part of a pattern with egypt, saudi arabia, turkey, the syrian resistance, to some degree the people fighting isis in iraq and this administration abandoning or not supporting our allies. we have been walking away from them all across the middle east. >> let me ask you a question, and im aware of that criticism. i talk to people in t...

In the morning? >> i cut back. i basically have one a day. >> ed has a lot. >> all weekend. >> this weekend, there was such a backlash of what happened friday at the u.n. with the obama administration abstaining and what that meant was they did not block a resolution from going through before the security council that was slamming israel. i mean, it wasnt just attacking israel over settlements. it was saying the israelis cant go to the western wall to pray. thats how ridiculous this resolution w...

>> well, certainly, i think the job of commander in chief requires a full-time attention. he should not be distracted by trying to run an ngo or nonprofit. >> now, youve heard just in the last block, israels ambassador to the united states, ron dermer just now really going after the obama administration hard, faulting them for abstaining during that u.n. resolution having to do with the building of settlements in east jerusalem, what did you make of what he had to say? >> ambassador dermer is a ...

Concerned about irs violations. whether or not that will be handled before he can actually close the doors we mains to be seen. it is not likely. they want to wrap up the investigation. >> when the announcement happened over the weekend, it felt like a distraction. we are talking about the charitable foundation which has a legal obstacle to overcome before that can be shutdown. we havent addressed or he hasnt addressed the business conflict of interests. that is the bigger conflict. >> it is. so...

Bank, and at the white house for abstaining from it. prime minister benjamin netanyahu telling his cabinet, "from the information that we have, we have no doubt that the obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated it, on the wording, and demanded it be passed." the white house says, hey, thats not true, and president obama always put highest priority on israel and its security. kevin corke joins us, hes traveling with the president. he is live in honolulu, hawaii. kevin, what...

Athena, what are you hearing today? >> reporter: this has been a position of multiple administrations. the white house is not responding to this move by israel to cut ties with the country that is voted against it in this u.n. vote, but the message the white house was sending in abstaining in that vote last week is that the obama administration agrees with much of the international community, that the continued construction is not helpful to the peace process, not helpful to any eventual two-sta...

>> reporter: its been tension over the years and it came to the head over the holiday weekend. benjamin netanyahu is making an accusation that the united states directed the resolution te at the u.n. security council that is seen as anti-israel, rebuking the country for the settlements in the west bank. the u.s. said they didnt author it, didnt choreography it, but what happened is the u.s. didnt use the power to veto, which would have stopped it and then did not vote, abstaining, which also sen...