A critical operational challenge Obama will face, is the necessity to have Ambassador Susan Rice exercise the U.S. veto...
at the U.N. Security Council, to block unfair and one-sided resolutions condemning Israel for defending itself. This is often a painful exercise for American diplomats, because it gives the appearance of endorsing what are sometimes very tough Israeli measures. Worse yet, these resolutions tend to arise when something has gone wrong during an Israeli operation, and there are losses of innocent lives.
American vetoes to defend Israel are taken by some as proof that the U.S. is one-sided and biased in Israel’s favor. The truth is the opposite: It is the UN that is one-sided and biased, and the American veto is often the only way to prevent imblance. The UN Security Council is almost never called upon to act when there are questions about Arab human rights abuses or excessive use of force.
