President-elect Trump slammed the Obama administration’s decision to withhold its veto of a United Nations Security Counsel resolution against Israel, tweeting Wednesday that the U.S. had abandoned its friends in the Middle East.
not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016
We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016
Trump’s social media screed came just hours before Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to deliver a speech about Israeli-Palestinian peace.
The timing of Kerry’s address, which was set to occur nearly one week after the U.S. allowed a resolution condeming Israeli settlements (including Jewish communities surrounding its capital city of Jerusalem) as a “flagrant violation” of international law, has angered Israeli officials who were already reeling over the measure’s passage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Kerry and President Obama of colluding with other countries to condemn Israel, reversing a longstanding U.S. tradition of blocking anti-Israel resolutions. Netanyahu told Kerry: “[F]riends don’t take friends to the Security Council.”
The administration’s move quickly and publicly opened a foreign policy rift between Obama and Trump, the latter of whom promised that “things will be different” immediately upon Obama’s departure.
Trump also ridiculed the United Nations itself, calling the institution “a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.”
