[Bonus points for getting the song allusion in the title]
Today, 14 of the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council voted for a resolution declaring Israel's West Bank settlement construction illegal, a resolution which, given the unequivocal state of international law, is about as debatable as a resolution declaring the earth is not flat. Nevertheless, one bold country went where no one else dared to go, voted "no," and, in doing so, vetoed the resolution. That country as, obviously, the United States.
Before the vote went down, FAIR caught the New York Times making this preposterous statement: "The new White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said Thursday that he would not say whether the United States would invoke its rarely used veto power in the Council." In fact, the U.S. uses that "rarely used" power more than any other country; dozens of times on the issue of Israel alone. And, of course, that doesn't tell the whole story. Because the U.S. has used the threat of a veto many more times to simply prevent resolutions from coming to a vote, or to have them watered-down into meaninglessness before they do.
Read More