Would Joe Biden Veto the Attempt of ‘the State of Palestine’ to Become a Full Member of the United Nations?

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority who is currently in the eighteenth year of the four-year term to which he was elected, has with great fanfare announced, at a recent Arab League meeting, his intention to seek full membership in the United Nations for the entity he refers to as the “State of Palestine,” despite the fact that the Palestinian territories, as devoted as they are to the destruction of Israel at the expense of all other considerations, can hardly be said to be exercising any kind of independence. More can be found here on that. Meanwhile, Egypt’s El-Sissi has warned Israel against changing the status quo on the Temple Mount:

He said such measures would impede the long-sought-after two-state solution to the conflict, which would leave “both parties and the whole Middle East with difficult and grave options.”

Even Prime Minister Netanyahu’s assurance that the “status quo” on the Temple Mount would be preserved has not silenced the alarmists. El-Sissi, who welcomes and needs Israeli security cooperation in the Sinai, should have kept quiet or, even better, have said that “Prime Minister Netanyahu has assured me that the status quo will be maintained on the Haram al-Sharif [the Muslim name for the Temple Mount] and I believe him.”

Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, the secretary-general of the pan-Arab organization, repeated a common accusation that Israel could be attempting to partition the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity, saying this “would fuel endless unrest and violence.”

Such claims have been made without evidence for many decades, with Israel saying it has no such plans.

There has never been a plan, a plot, a scintilla of a scheme by Israel to “partition the Temple Mount” and “obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity.” This is one of those crazy claims made by Palestinian and other Arabs, without the slightest foundation, but useful for whipping up the Palestinian street. This charge that Israel plans to ”partition the Temple Mount” is, in its preposterousness, akin to the fantastical claim made by deluded Arabs that Israel wants to extend its territory “from the Nile to the Euphrates.”

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas can go ahead and attempt to have the “State of Palestine” become a full member of the UN, but there is one thing standing athwart these plans. In order for a state to become a member of the UN, it first must submit an application to the Secretary-General, and a letter formally stating that it accepts the obligations under the Charter. So far, so possible.

But then the Security Council steps in. To quote from the official UN website on “How a State Becomes a Member of the UN”:

The Security Council considers the application. Any recommendation for admission must receive the affirmative votes of 9 of the 15 members of the Council, provided that none of its five permanent members — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America — have voted against the application.

That means the United States can veto the attempt by “the State of Palestine” to become a full-fledged member of the United Nations. Biden will be under terrific pressure to exercise that veto, not only from Israel’s many supporters in the Democratic Party, but from the entire Republican Congressional delegation, that controls the House and is almost even in the Senate (51 Democrats-49 Republicans).

The Presidential election is less than two years away. Biden’s approval rating hovers at 40%. He has reneged on his pledge to reopen the “consulate to the Palestinians” in east Jerusalem, possibly because he now realizes it would require acceptance by the Receiving State – Israel — and that acceptance will not be forthcoming. He has further chosen to ignore his previous promise to reopen the PLO office in Washington. Given that the UN is already a kangaroo court with Israel perennially in the dock, making “the State of Palestine” a full-fledged and voting member of the UN would only make matters worse, as that new member would introduce endless resolutions denouncing Israel – even more than are currently considered. It would also add one more very vocal anti-Western terrorism-supporting despotism, a supporter of Russia, China, and Iran, to the UN’s membership roll. Is that what the Administration wants?