Israel

Following yesterday's unexpected vote in the United Nations, when the United States broke with a long-standing approach of diplomatically shielding Israel, and did not wield its veto power as it had on many prior occasions - a decision Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called "shameful" - leading to the adoption of a resolution demanding an end to Israel settlement building, Israel said it would re-assess its ties with the United Nations.  It also said it would not comply with the resolution, suggesting it may now be a "rogue nation" when it comes to UN enforcement.

Following today's surprising decision by the US' Samantha Power to abstain in a UN vote over Israel settlements, one which provoked Israel to lash out at the Obama administration  "friends don't act that way", but more importantly defied Trump who in a previous tweet urged Obama to veto the resolution, it was only a question of how long before Trump tweets his response. The time was less than an hour, because just minutes after the vote, the president-elect slammed the current administration's decision, while ominously warning the UN that it would be "different" under his presidency.

Israel lashed out at the Obama administration  "friends don't act that way" after Ambassador Power abstained (refusing to veto) as The United Nations passed a resolution demanding Israel to stop settlement building on occupied Palestinian territory. As NYTimes notes, the administration’s decision not to veto the measure broke a longstanding American tradition of serving as Israel’s sturdiest diplomatic shield, and defied extraordinary pressure from President-elect Trump.

A call to divide Syria and Iraq by Israel’s minister defense minister helps make it clearer to understand why there are ‘civil wars’ taking place there… In an article for Defense News, Avigdor Liberman explains Israels struggle in a turbulent Middle East and suggests solutions to the problems, including the division of Syria and Iraq along sectarian lines. American Herald Tribune reports: In a similar tone to those of the Israeli politicians, Liberman waste no time to call the legitimate forces of Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon as terrorist forces.

Congress managed to wrap-up unfinished business on Thursday a day ahead of a government shutdown deadline. Both houses voted to approve a defense policy bill, which includes more than $600 million for missile defense cooperation with Israel. The Senate passed the legislation by a wide margin of 92-7, a week after the House overwhelmingly approved the measure 375-34. It now awaits the president’s signature.