The United States may be committed to supporting Israel, but that commitment comes with strings attached, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said during a talk in Washington, DC on Wednesday evening.This is truly unbelievable.
“America will always maintain our iron-clad commitment to the security of Israel, ensuring that Israel maintains its qualitative military edge and can protect its territory and people,” Rice told attendees at the Center for a New American Security’s annual conference in Washington DC. “Equally, we consistently defend Israel’s legitimacy and security in the UN and other international fora. In turn, we expect Israel to stand and be counted with the US and other partners on core matters of international law and principle, such as Ukraine.”
Do you think that Susan Rice says this to any other country? Perhaps that the US supports Canada or Great Britain or Australia but demands that in return they support US policy?
The answer is obviously no. Because outside of Micronesia, no country votes with the US in the UN more than Israel.
Why would the US talk to its most supportive ally in such a disparaging way?
Here are the top ten nations' UN voting records from 2013 as a percentage of coincident votes with the US:
COUNTRY | SAME | OPPOSITE | ABSTAIN | ABSENT | VOTES |
ONLY | |||||
Micronesia | 61 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 98.40% |
Israel | 71 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 94.70% |
Palau | 67 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 94.40% |
Canada | 71 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 89.90% |
Australia | 55 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 80.90% |
France | 53 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 77.90% |
Marshall Islands | 55 | 16 | 2 | 10 | 77.50% |
United Kingdom | 55 | 16 | 11 | 1 | 77.50% |
COUNTRY | SAME | OPPOSITE | ABSTAIN | ABSENT | VOTES |
ONLY | |||||
Italy | 50 | 21 | 12 | 0 | 70.40% |
Belgium | 49 | 21 | 12 | 1 | 70.00% |
Bulgaria | 49 | 21 | 13 | 0 | 70.00% |
Denmark | 49 | 21 | 13 | 0 | 70.00% |
Germany | 49 | 21 | 12 | 1 | 70.00% |
Spain | 48 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 69.60% |
Japan | 45 | 22 | 16 | 0 | 67.20% |
Ireland | 45 | 24 | 13 | 1 | 65.20% |
New Zealand | 46 | 26 | 11 | 0 | 63.90% |
Switzerland | 46 | 27 | 10 | 0 | 63.00% |
Turkey | 45 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 61.60% |
Mexico | 35 | 42 | 6 | 0 | 45.50% |
Philippines | 34 | 46 | 3 | 0 | 42.50% |
Singapore | 34 | 47 | 2 | 0 | 42.00% |
Jordan | 26 | 45 | 12 | 0 | 36.60% |
Pakistan | 24 | 44 | 13 | 2 | 35.30% |
United Arab Emirates | 25 | 46 | 12 | 0 | 35.20% |
Indonesia | 26 | 48 | 9 | 0 | 35.10% |
Bahrain | 24 | 45 | 14 | 0 | 34.80% |
Tunisia | 25 | 47 | 10 | 1 | 34.70% |
Iraq | 24 | 46 | 13 | 0 | 34.30% |
Kuwait | 21 | 46 | 16 | 0 | 31.30% |
Qatar | 21 | 46 | 16 | 0 | 31.30% |
Oman | 21 | 47 | 15 | 0 | 30.90% |
Mauritania | 20 | 45 | 16 | 2 | 30.80% |
Yemen | 20 | 45 | 16 | 2 | 30.80% |
Nicaragua | 22 | 50 | 10 | 1 | 30.60% |
Saudi Arabia | 20 | 47 | 16 | 0 | 29.90% |
Egypt | 16 | 48 | 19 | 0 | 25.00% |
If you can find an example where US support for any other ally was considered quid pro quo for that ally supporting US foreign policy, I'd love to see it.