Israel Losing a Friend at the United Nations?

For decades, the United States has made it a rule to veto any anti-Israel condemnations from the United Nations Security Council.  The United States cited that the UN was systematically biased against Israel and that it is inappropriate to perpetuate that situation.

In a rare anti-Obama moment, I have to condemn the United States for even hinting that this may be over.  According to a report by Ben Smith at the Politico blog, the United States will abstain, rather than veto, in a vote to condemn Israeli construction in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem.

If this is part of Obama’s plan to start peace talks, he might be careful about how he picks his friends.  While Israel has been open to negotiation all along, the Arabs said no until recent US pressure for indirect talks to begin.  The Palestinian Authority has made it clear that they do not really care about peace with Israel, they want it to be gone.