“The ‘Illegitimate’ Cop Out,” op-ed by JINSA’s Shoshana Bryen in the Jewish Ledger, Feb. 24, 2011
The “Illegitimate” Cop Out
Feb. 24, 2011
by Shoshana Bryen
Pro-Israel organizations and friends of Israel are falling all over themselves to thank the Obama Administration for casting its first veto in the UN Security Council Friday, preventing the Security Council from pronouncing Israeli “settlements” “illegal.” In fact, it was the least they could do, and they did it with reluctance and more than a little bit of dissembling.
The “Illegitimate” Cop Out
Feb. 24, 2011
by Shoshana Bryen
Pro-Israel organizations and friends of Israel are falling all over themselves to thank the Obama Administration for casting its first veto in the UN Security Council Friday, preventing the Security Council from pronouncing Israeli “settlements” “illegal.” In fact, it was the least they could do, and they did it with reluctance and more than a little bit of dissembling.
Houses for Jews east of the 1949 Armistice Line are not illegal for many international reasons including: an armistice line is not a border; the land was not sovereign – British Mandatory authority giving way directly to illegal occupation by Jordan from 1949-67 after an offensive war; Israel acquired it in a defensive war, giving it better legal title than Jordan. One might say many things about Israel’s holding of and handling of the territory acquired in its own defense, but illegal occupation and illegal building are not among them.
And the administration didn’t use the word, exactly. After a week of offering other unpleasant language about Israel and houses in an effort to avoid a showdown, the President is said to have spent nearly an hour pleading with Palestinian dictator Abu Mazen (his legal term ended in 2008) to withdraw his petition to the Security Council. Abu Mazen apparently declined. Having exhausted the other options, President Obama directed UN Ambassador Susan Rice to do the honorable thing – veto the resolution after the other 14 members of the Security Council voted in favor of it.