Appearing on MSNBC early Tuesday afternoon, guest and former Obama State Department official Joel Rubin lashed out at Israel’s reaction to the settlements vote at the United Nations (UN), comparing Israel to his misbehaving eight-year-old daughter venturing outside in the cold without proper clothing to avoid becoming sick.
Rubin also bolstered his attack on Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government by arguing that UN critics are just bitter with “the uncomfortable truth” that condemning Israel for building settlements enjoys massive support with a unanimous vote on Friday at the UN (with an abstention by the U.S.).
When fill-in Andrea Mitchell Reports host Peter Alexander wondered to Rubin what kind of message the U.N. vote sent, Rubin offered the analogy that equated a fully democratic country to a child who disobeys what’s in their best interests:
Well, the message that Israel is sending is one they typically do when they are frustrated with an American call into the settlements and it's like an analogy with my eight-year-old daughter. She gets sick when she goes out to school, doesn't wear enough clothes and then next day, if she's very sick, I say you’re not going to watch TV. Then, the following day, she takes off more clothes, she just goes in shorts and a t-shirt. Well, she’s the one that’s suffering, not me. I'm trying to help her out and the same thing with the U.S. The U.S. has been trying for decades to help Israel to move in the right direction and this is not it.
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Making no mention of how he was a founding member of the controversial, liberal Jewish organization J-Street, Rubin went onto praise the U.N. and the Obama administration for doing something that “many on the liberal side of Israeli politics” have wanted to see because “[s]ettlements are separate from Israel and we need American help for peace.”
Rubin also couldn’t resist taking a shot at President-elect Donald Trump and his tweet denouncing the unusefulness of the UN. Naturally, Rubin engaged in a strawman argument regarding what the UN has and has not done:
[T]ell the peacekeepers in Syria whether or not it's a club for them. Tell the negotiators who prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon if it's a club. You know, we spend about $1 billion to $2 billion a year at the U.N. That’s about what we spend in a day for our Department of Defense. It's very low cost yet it advances the security and these tweets do nothing but hinder our ability to be effective.
“Certainly the uncomfortable truth in all of this is that's the global opinion about the settlements. This resolution passed 14 to 0 with one abstention....Global opinion does not believe that settlements are constructive toward peacemaking and that's being expressed. It is frustrating but that's how it is,” Rubin added.
Before wrapping up, Alexander asked Rubin to respond to the Israeli allegations that Obama administration officials personally lobbied for the resolution. As he did throughout the segment, Rubin blasted Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer:
Well, it’s disappointing to hear these smear attacks. We have one president at one time and when the Israeli ambassador is reaching out to the President-elect, the sitting President should also be frustrated that he's not getting the straight discussion, so I don't think anyone should doubt what Ben Rhodes said and frankly, again, this is global opinion and this passed 14-0.
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports on December 27:
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports
December 27, 2016
12:56 p.m. EasternPETER ALEXANDER: So despite the U.N. Security Council vote, Israel not backing down on this plan to build up to, I think, 5,600 new homes in that area as it's been said. So, what is the message sent by this effort by Israel now?
JOEL RUBIN: Well, the message that Israel is sending is one they typically do when they are frustrated with an American call into the settlements and it's like an analogy with my eight-year-old daughter. She gets sick when she goes out to school, doesn't wear enough clothes and then next day, if she's very sick, I say you’re not going to watch TV. Then, the following day, she takes off more clothes, she just goes in shorts and a t-shirt. Well, she’s the one that’s suffering, not me. I'm trying to help her out and the same thing with the U.S. The U.S. has been trying for decades to help Israel to move in the right direction and this is not it.
ALEXANDER: Your position is that President Obama has been more cautious than past presidents vis-a-vis Israel dating back to a resolution in 2003 when George W. Bush voted or his ambassador, I guess, voted in favor of, that basically called for a settlement freeze.
RUBIN: Absolutely. In fact, frustratingly so for many on the liberal side in Israeli politics. They have been looking for a stronger hand from the United States to say settlements aren't Israel. Settlements are separate from Israel and we need American help for peace.
ALEXANDER: Let me ask you about the United Nations. Donald Trump criticizing the U.N. Here’s a tweet that raised a lot of eyebrows. He wrote: “The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time” and then, of course, he punctuated it with “so sad.” So, is he signaling that he's not going to play well with the U.N., that he may not even play with the U.N.?
RUBIN: Well, tough job for Nikki Haley coming in, that's for sure and tell the peacekeepers in Syria whether or not it's a club for them. Tell the negotiators who prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon if it's a club. You know, we spend about $1 billion to $2 billion a year at the U.N. That’s about what we spend in a day for our Department of Defense. It's very low cost yet it advances the security and these tweets do nothing but hinder our ability to be effective.
ALEXANDER: But critics make a good point when they say while we watch what happens in Aleppo and Syria and elsewhere it seems like the United Nations, the world body there is obsessed, is the word critics will use, with Israel and I think that's where a lot of the frustration lies. How is that mistaken?
RUBIN: Certainly the uncomfortable truth in all of this is that's the global opinion about the settlements. This resolution passed 14 to 0 with one abstention. That includes Russia, France, and Britain supporting the resolution. If President-elect Trump wants to have good relationship with Russia, what's he going to say to them about the Israeli-Palestinian issue? Global opinion does not believe that settlements are constructive toward peacemaking and that's being expressed. It is frustrating but that's how it is.
ALEXANDER: Did the U.S. orchestrate this resolution? Were they behind the scenes? The ambassador Ron Dermer telling our colleagues here that this — Ben Rhodes, one of the top aides to the President, was an “expert in fiction,” in denying that the White House played a role.
RUBIN: Well, it’s disappointing to hear these smear attacks. We have one president at one time and when the Israeli ambassador is reaching out to the President-elect, the sitting President should also be frustrated that he's not getting the straight discussion, so I don't think anyone should doubt what Ben Rhodes said and frankly, again, this is global opinion and this passed 14-0.
