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Kerry Reached Back to the Carter Administration to Find a Precedent for the Administration's UN Abstention
(Washington Post) Glenn Kessler - Secretary of State John Kerry on Dec. 28 once again focused on Israeli settlements in a speech given just days after the U.S. abstained on a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlements. The last time a resolution was approved by the Security Council with phrasing concerning Jerusalem and occupied territories in a key operative paragraph was in 1980 - during the Jimmy Carter administration - so Kerry is reaching back decades to find a precedent for the administration's abstention. Kerry is right that every administration "opposed settlements as contrary to the prospects for peace." But he's wrong to paint all administrations with the same brush, as sometimes the language (such as in the Ronald Reagan years) was as mild as saying settlements were "not helpful" - not that they were illegal.