WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Rhodes was speaking after the US government refused earlier on Friday to veto a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement building in the West Bank. The resolution passed 14-0 and solely the United States abstained from voting.
"The notion that we were involved in drafting this is just not true, Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications told reporters in a conference call on Friday. "We did not indicate to any un member how we would vote on the resolution."
Only after the resolution had been made public and been studied by US officials was the decision taken not to veto it, he added.
Speaking on the United States' abstention from vetoing the resolution, Rhodes said that Barack Obama never warned President-elect Donald Trump in advance that he was not going to veto a motion condemning Israeli settlement building on the West Bank.
"I am not aware that [President] Obama and the president-elect spoke about this. I am not aware of any conversation we had about this," Rhodes, the US deputy national security advisor for strategic communications told a conference call with reporters on Friday.
Trump had previously urged Obama to veto the resolution and responded to the outgoing president’s action by tweeting on Friday that after he takes office on January 20, he would act to reverse Obama’s policies on the resolution vote and other Middle East issues.
