Obama personally authorized US abstention from UN vote on Israeli settlements [View all]

HONOLULU — President Barack Obama personally directed Friday that the U.S. abstain from a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity, seeing the escalation of settlement building as an increasing threat to the viability of a two-state solution to the region's problems.

Ahead of the expected vote, Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Hawaii, convened a discussion Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and other top national security officials.

The vote was postponed, but U.S. officials continued to monitor discussions over the Egyptian-authored resolution until Friday. Obama spoke with national security adviser Susan Rice on Friday to issue his final decision.

President-elect Donald Trump's intervention in the discussions, which included a conversation with Egypt's president Thursday that preceded the delay in the planned vote, did not affect Obama's calculations, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters.

"There's one president at a time," he said.

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