Netanyahu vs. Obama: Gunfight At The UN Corral?

With Netanyahu digging in his heels in response to the demand by the US that Israel not only stop building settlements but stop any future expansion and growth, one of the options at Obama's disposal to bring pressure on Israel is to use the UN.

According to The New York Times, the Obama administration is considering no longer providing an automatic veto whenever the UN is used by Israel's enemies to bring a blanket condemnation against Israel without reference to the terrorist threat it faces.

But what exactly would that mean?

• Would the US actually allow anti-Israel condemnations to pass?
• Would the US veto such condemnations, but without making an issue of pointing out the double standards?

Ed Morrissey suggests some possibilites:

As for abandoning Israel at the UN, well, that hardly surprises when Obama chooses advisors like Samantha Power and Susan Rice. It does, however, set up an interesting position for Obama at the UN, an organization he fulsomely praised during his campaign. If the UN Security Council starts passing ridiculous resolutions prompted by its Human Rights Council about Israel’s supposed human-rights violations while ignoring Iran, China, Cuba, and the rest of the rogues’ gallery, will he help enforce them with action against Israel and guarantee a political blow to the Democratic Party? Or will he simply ignore them, making the UN even more irrelevant than they are now?

If Obama does resort to manipulating the US veto in the UN, it is difficult to see how he could do so without all kinds of negative consequences--and not just to Israel.

Maybe that's why at Powerline, they are more skeptical about Obama using the UN against Israel:

There has been speculation that he will react by declining to veto anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations. This doesn't strike me as a likely response. Obama's goal is to bring down the Netanyahu government. The best way to accomplish this is to take steps that signal a deterioration in relations but that do not cause Israelis to sympathize with Netanyahu and to dislike Obama. The U.N. tends to pass resolution regarding Israel that are not just unfair, but noxiously so. For the U.S. to stop vetoing such resolutions would be inconsistent with the nuanced strategy I just outlined.

This is not to say that Obama would not apply pressure on Israel--just that the UN is unlikely to be the venue where this would be done. In any case, Powerline is among those who see Obama's ultimate goal as being to bring down the current Israeli government in the hopes of being able to negotiate with a more liberal one.

So while US officials on Monday indicated that the US will in fact continue to suport Israel in the UN, that does not mean that there is any less tension between the US and Israel.

When Obama speaks in Cairo this week, we will see whether his next move vis-a-vis Israel will be to use the carrot or the stick.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Obama and Netanyahu.