Chief rabbi: US has forsaken Israel, we can trust only in the Lord
Yitzhak Yosef says White House decision not to veto UN resolution served as ‘reminder from above that we can count on no one but our Father’
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The US has forsaken Israel, and the Jewish state can now place its trust only in God, Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said Wednesday, as Jerusalem and Washington continued to face off over Friday’s United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
“Sometimes, we need to be reminded from above that we can count on no one but our Father who art in heaven,” Yosef told followers at the Western Wall. “Even America… forsook us last week at the UN.”
He added: “We mustn’t forget that the hearts of kings and captains are in the hands of the Lord, and we can count on no one but (the Lord).”
US Secretary of State John Kerry again criticized Israel’s settlement policies in a speech a major address on the way ahead for the Mideast peace process at the State Department on Wednesday.
Furthermore, an official in Jerusalem told The Times of Israel on Tuesday, the government expects more US-led maneuvers at the UN that are critical of the Jewish state.
Washington declined Friday to wield its veto power to stop the UN resolution, setting off a renewed crisis with the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides have accused the US of colluding with Palestinians and other Security Council member-states to pass the measure.
The White House on Wednesday denied any coordination with the Palestinians over the formulation of the resolution, and called recently leaked transcripts of conversations on the matter between top US and Palestinian officials, published by an Egyptian newspaper, a “total fabrication.”
The resolution states that the settlement enterprise “has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law,” and calls for a complete end to all construction in areas Israel gained after the 1967 Six Day War.
The text was approved by 14-0, with the United States abstaining.
Defending the US abstention — and decision to not veto — the resolution Friday, Kerry said in a statement the move would “preserve the possibility of peace.”
Eric Cortellessa contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.