**Written by Doug Powers

The wind-up, from 2015:

And the pitch, on Friday:

The White House’s decision to break with decades of U.S. policy and allow the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements is the culmination of years of bad blood between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The decision won Obama criticism from across the political spectrum, and almost certainly wouldn’t have been made if Hillary Clinton had won the presidential election.

It opened him up to condemnation from President-elect Donald Trump and the right, and could lead to a battle over U.S. funding for the U.N. in Congress.

But Obama’s team decided it was worth it.

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said the rapid expansion of settlement activity under Netanyahu had put the possibility of a future peace agreement at risk.

“We could not in good conscience veto a resolution that expressed concerns about the very trends that are eroding the foundation of a two-state solution,” he told reporters.

Here’s the crux of Obama’s statement released by the White House while that was going on (I’m not kidding): HAPPY HANUKKAH!

To review… Things that have promoted peace: Sending $1.7 billion in cash to Iran; Giving a reset button to Russia; Blaming terrorist attacks on climate change and the NRA. Things that would threaten peace: Stopping the UN from condemning Israeli settlements.

By the way, The Hill’s report said that the Obama administration’s decision on Israel was criticized “from across the political spectrum,” but that’s not entirely fair, because the UN and Obama had some support:

**Written by Doug Powers

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