Republican congressman: Obama is 'reckless' in treatment of Israel

Republican Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.) slammed President Barack Obama's treatment of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "reckless" Tuesday morning in the wake of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements in areas claimed by Palestine.

Cole told MSNBC of the resolution and Obama's decision to abstain from the vote:

Frankly its a break in our long-time policy, not of the settlement issue, but making sure U.N. resolutions are not one sided. This clearly was.

To do it [in] the last 30 days of your presidency, when you know the incoming administration holds a different position, I think was reckless and reprehensible, and I am going to be interested to see whether or not the Israeli charge that the United States actually colluded in this is true.

The Oklahoma lawmaker contended that the passing the UN resolution was "certainly not reassuring in the way we handle" Israeli issues and criticized Obama's treatment of Netanyahu in the past.

"I think [Obama] certainly has been supportive [of Israel] in terms of defensive weapons and those kinds of things," Cole said. "But no, if you look at that Iranian agreement, I think that was very reckless, and I think it endangered Israel."

Cole added that "it's been a series of calculated insults" from Obama and his lack of preventing the UN resolution was just his "final insult on the way out the door."

Israel's ambassador to the U.S. said Tuesday that his country will give President-elect Donald Trump "evidence" to prove that Obama was behind the passage of the resolution — even though he didn't personally vote for it, according to the Times of Israel.