Thomas Friedman Strikes Again

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Here's a quote from good (?) old Thomas Friedman in the New York Times:

I am stunned at what I see here politically. On the right, in the Likud Party, the old leadership that was at least connected with the world, spoke English and respected Israel’s Supreme Court, is being swept aside in the latest primary by a rising group of far-right settler-activists who are convinced — thanks, in part, to the wall and dome — that Palestinians are no threat anymore and that no one can roll back the 350,000 Jews living in the West Bank. The far-right group running Israel today is so arrogant, and so indifferent to U.S. concerns, that it announced plans to build a huge block of settlements in the heart of the West Bank — in retaliation for the U.N. vote giving Palestinians observer status — even though the U.S. did everything possible to block that vote and the settlements would sever any possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state.

Well, I am stunned when a journalist who has done absolutely nothing of note for the Jewish People, calls the elected leaders of Israel, many of whom have put their lives on the line during service in the IDF, "arrogant".

What's more, Tom thinks that "the U.S. did everything possible to block that vote". Well Tom, there are others that think differently, others that are actually knowledgable on the subject. Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton had this to say:

Bolton said the Obama administration should have followed the model set by former President George H.W. Bush, and then-Secretary of State James Baker, 20 years ago in blocking a similar initiative to upgrade the Palestine Liberation Organization’s status from an “entity” to a “non-member state,” the same status held by the Vatican.

“We’ve been through this before. We did this 20 years ago and defeated the Palestinians,” Bolton said, according to a transcript provided by Newsmax.

“And this is how we did it. Secretary of State Jim Baker issued a statement saying he would recommend to the president that the United States make no further contributions, voluntary or assessed, to any international organization which makes any change in the PLO’s status as an observer organization.”

“If the administration had simply done what Jim Baker did 20 years ago, this thing would have been deader than a doornail,” Bolton added.

I think that what John Bolton said is quite logical. The UN is funded largely by the United States. If Obama really wanted to prevent the vote, he could have done so. Thomas Friedman, as usual, is off the mark.