Panetta Reiterates US Commitment to Israel

US Backs Off Threats to Punish Palestinians for UN Bid

Fresh off the US vote against Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly, a vote on behalf of Israel and significant in that they were virtually the only major nation to do so, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is reiterating that the US ties to Israel are “stronger than ever” and that they remain committed to Israel.

Even if the US did vote with Israel on the resolution, as did the usual Pacific islands that vote with the US as a matter of course, there seems to be some disappointment among Israelis that the US didn’t manage to stop the vote entirely, as they repeatedly tried to.

After the overwhelming victory for Palestine at the General Assembly, both the US and Israel are backing off their assorted threats of retaliations against them, and trying to downplay the significance of the vote at all.

This is despite AIPAC predicting “dire consequences” for the Palestinians for having won the vote, saying they were confident Congress would retaliate against the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) for the vote.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.