April 18, 2024 (EIRNS)—American journalist at The Intercept, Ken Klippenstein, has published the text of two U.S. diplomatic cables showing efforts by Washington to prevent nations on the UN Security Council from voting to admit Palestine as a member state of the United Nations. (Apparently they weren’t very effective.)
The cable directly from Secretary of State Antony Blinken is full of detailed talking points for opposing UN membership.
They include a reiteration that “sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution,” but insist that this can only occur “in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors.” A vote for admitting “Palestine” (scare quotes in original) would only “endanger normalization efforts and drive the parties further apart.”
After some lousy carrots (“We’re so good at diplomacy and will bring things about just fine without the UN meddling”) come the sticks: “We have warned President Abbas that action in the UN in pursuit of Palestinian member state status could trigger other consequences. These include: Undermining the United States’ ability to encourage international financial support for the new Palestinian government.” Additional threats of financial repercussions follow.
The U.S. also threatens to stage a temper tantrum if it does not get its way at the UN, which would “make it more difficult for the United States to continue our current robust engagement with the UN.” Not only is there a threat to withhold funding from the Palestinian Authority, but also to end all funding to the UN itself!
The fact that, besides the U.S. veto, the only non-positive votes were abstentions of the U.K. and Switzerland, goes to show how useless are talking points when reality has such force.
