<![CDATA[“Our Greatest Ally” Update]]>The vote in the UN yesterday was good, if not spectacular, in isolating Russia for its annexation of Crimea. 100 countries voted to condemn; 11 voted against; and 58 countries abstained. All of America’s key allies backed the US – except Israel, which abstained. There is a diplomatic strike in Israel at the moment, but casting a critical vote in concord with your closest ally should never be restrained by such a thing.

Maybe it’s because of the obvious similarities between Putin and Netanyahu’s foreign policies – intransigent nationalists annexing neighboring regions to restore a Greater Russia or create a Greater Israel. Maybe it’s because Russia is a potential patron if Israel continues to settle its near-abroad and becomes even more diplomatically isolated. Maybe it was indeed a function of a strike.

But it remains the case that on a vital matter at the UN, where the US has isolated itself again and again and again in protecting Israel, Israel told the US to go take a hike. That’s how the current Israeli government treats the US: with thinly veiled contempt.

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