When Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that Bosnia had committed to voting against Palestinian statehood at the UN Security Council, it was seen as a virtual end to the situation, with only eight members committed to support it and nine needed.
But Israeli officials are once again spooked by the possibility that Palestine will receive full membership, with some of the formerly secure “no” votes seen wavering in the wake of the overwhelming support for Palestine’s UNESCO membership.
France has moved from a seemingly solid “no” vote toward abstaining, and with a number of other nations seen moving toward abstention it is seen increasingly likely that the US will be asked by Israel to veto an otherwise passing vote.
And while Obama seems more than willing to veto Palestinian statehood, the move would be extremely embarrassing if, after a near unanimous vote at UNESCO the US vetoed another passing vote.
Obama should do the right thing and abstain. Palestinians deserve their own state.
Obama is such a weak lily-livered non entity that he will wet his pants if Isreal asks him to do anything. So there is no way that he will ever "do the right thing ".
Embarrassing? Embarrassing to whom? Certainly not the US and Israel – they lost all pride and responsibility years ago.
What a sorry state America has got itself into.
The current batch of American politicians are so in the pocket of AIPAC that in reality the once MIGHTY USA is now just the lapdog of the Isrealis.
With the huge number of nations in support of Palestine, it only makes sense in the larger scheme of things to go with it and work for positive change. If a nation (I'm looking at you, US) approves of and votes for Palestinian independence, it will be one of many nations in accord, and nothing would appear out of the ordinary. On the other hand, if a nation (again looking at you, US) opposes Palestine and votes no, it will do so in a very small number of minority nations and will make itself very visible for repercussions political and economic. I'm not saying the US should vote 'yes' just to go along with the crowd, but in this case opposing the crowd can only lead to further trouble down the road. Best to say yes now- or at worst, abstain- and if possible work to make a better situation later for all involved. Anything but a 'no' vote is going to make Israel hate the US, but that is the situation we've boxed ourselves into- it's time we stand up and do the right thing and show Israel who is (or should be) the senior partner in the relationship.