Israeli Envoy: Obama Gave Palestinians Ammunition for Diplomatic War on Israel

"The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, said Monday that US President Barack Obama has given the Palestinians ammunition for waging a multi-pronged war on Israel by refusing to wield the US's veto power at the United Nations Security Council where a resolution condemning Israeli settlements was passed last week, sparking a diplomatic war of words between Jerusalem and Washington...

On Monday, Dermer defended the Israeli government's response to the resolution, rejecting the charge that Israel was isolating itself from countries it considers allies.

'Israel is not going to be kicked in the teeth and just not respond to this,' Dermer told CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday.

'We can't just meet with visiting dignitaries as if nothing has happened, this a serious effort against Israel, it's an anti-Israel resolution,' he charged, pointing to Hamas's praising of the resolution as proof. 'Israel's enemies are celebrating this resolution, that tells you all you need to know.'

By advocating an Israeli return to the 1967 lines and seeking Palestinian approval for any change in status, including with regard to Jerusalem, he said, 'the resolution changes the terms of reference for peace.'

'Obama gave the Palestinians exactly what they wanted, he gave them the ammunition for a political, diplomatic and legal war against Israel, by not vetoing,' Dermer said, adding that the decision 'basically encourages boycotts and sanctions against Israel, and will make peace harder to achieve.'

By declaring the West Bank and East Jerusalem occupied Palestinian territory, the resolution, Dermer indicated, weakened Israel's negotiating position because 'the one negotiating chip Israel has' is the territory captured in the 1967 war waged by Arab states against Israel.

The Palestinians, he charged, don't want to negotiate peace with Israel, preferring to 'wage a diplomatic and legal war' against the Jewish state.

'When you're negotiating a peace, there's give and take, what they want is take and take, and the way that you do that is to try to internationalize the conflict, to put more and more pressure on Israel, to call for boycotts, sanctions, to take our soldiers to the International Criminal Court,' Dermer said in reference to a probe by the ICC into allegations of war crimes during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014..."