President Obama’s UN declaration that Israeli settlements are illegal says this duck isn’t lame. It was not the finale of his closing months as president but the prologue to years ahead, pushing his legacy to where it can be carried out at the UN. Congressional leaders say the Obama administration is already plotting further action against Israel before Obama leaves office.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center put Obama’s refusal to veto the UN resolution at top of its annual list of anti-Semitic acts. The resolution (#2334) states that Israel’s settlement activity “has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law,” and calls for end to all construction beyond the boundaries that existed in 1967 prior to the Six Day War.

It is highly unusual for an outgoing president to initiate a major change in diplomatic relations that runs directly opposed to the direction the incoming president has already said he will take. Trump had insisted that Obama not move the US in this direction. So, the wild ride of the 2016 presidential campaign got even wilder after the campaign.