10 things you need to know today: December 24, 2016

UN Security Council votes with U.S. abstention to end Israeli settlements, Trump reportedly doubles down on 'arms race,' and more

The UN Security Council meets Dec. 21, 2016
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

1. UN Security Council votes with U.S. abstention to end Israeli settlements

The United Nations Security Council on Friday voted in favor of a resolution against Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. The U.S. did not use its veto, as President-elect Donald Trump and several senators hoped, and instead abstained from voting either way. The abstention marks a break from Washington's typical position as "Israel's sturdiest shield," The New York Times reported, indicating the Obama administration's frustration with the difficulty settlement-building poses to a two-state solution. The resolution's passage came a day after Egypt, which proposed the measure, postponed the vote following a meeting between Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.