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In the "club" that comprises the United Nations and its 192 General Assembly member nations, the mammoth size building encompassed by red tape, there is one outlier that consistently allies with Israel and against the vast majority.

The United States' unpopular support of the holy nation could be deemed diplomatic suicide. Consider the voting records that indicate either a vote of absent or an outright no by the U.S. on nearly every U.N. resolution criticizing Israel.

For instance, the latest U.N. Security Council resolution (1860) dated January 2009 called for "the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip." Except for the U.S., which voted absent, all of the other permanent member nations -- United Kingdom, Russian Federation, France, and China -- and 10 of the non-permanent member nations voted in favor of the resolution.

The U.N. General Assembly resolution (38/9) dated November 1983 included a provision that expressed grave concern over Israel's attempt at attaining nuclear weapons. Only the U.S. and Israel voted against this resolution. The following month another resolution (38/79E) that sought to "investigate Israeli practices affecting human rights" was voted no by only Israel; the U.S. voted absent. The list goes on and on.

Based on sheer numbers, it would seem that there is a clear bias against Israel. In 2007 and 2008, there were a total of seven resolutions concerning Israel; nine in 2005 and 2006; 11 in 2003 and 2004. What's more, the U.N. Web site classifies 15 Arab states and one Arab observer in the U.N. body: Algeria, Bahrain (although the recent nomination of Bahrain's first Jewish woman ambassador to the U.N. might make the nation sympathetic to Israel), Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Observer for Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Collectively the Arab states represent 7.8 percent, whereas Israel represents a mere half of a percent.

Diplomacy is a delicate tug-of-war of exercising leverage on your adversary in the hopes that he will side with you on key agenda. So by the U.S. continuously siding with Israel, it runs the risk of isolating itself diplomatically. No nation does anything for selfless motivation. Indeed, every nation bases their decision on what's in their best interests -- and that's attaining more power. Why, then, does the U.S. maintain such close ties with Israel -- ties that diminish their political nepotism?

Perhaps, though, the U.S. feels it has a moral responsibility to side with Israel, who is fighting against Hezbollah, an official U.S. State Department terrorist group, and that reason offsets the diplomatic risk. In any case, numbers don't lie, and the statistics are staggering: the U.S. staunchly supports Israel in the U.N.

Not surprisingly, Israel reciprocates the support offered by the U.S. The most recent resolution (63/7) concerning the U.S. that wasn't automatically adopted without a vote called for the world's superpower to end its longtime trade embargo with Cuba. Of course, the U.S. voted against it, but so did Israel. The only other nation to do so was Palau, a tiny state that's administered by the U.S. as a Trust Territory.

The representative of the state of Israel at the time, Dan Gillerman, Israel's deputy prime minister, was invited to attend the Sept. 20, 2006 Security Council meeting on "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question." Gillerman opened his comments with: "as some members know... Israel was unsure, practically until the last minute, whether to attend this meeting. Our experience has shown that this forum is not always helpful in advancing peace, but rather, that it may generate acrimony."

In Ariel Sharon's speech to the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 15, 2005, he stated, "The Jewish people remember the dramatic vote in the U.N. Assembly on Nov. 29, 1947, when representatives of the nations recognized our right to national revival in our historic homeland. However, we also remember dozens of harsh and unjust decisions made by United Nations over the years. And we know that, even today, there are those who sit here as representatives of a country whose leadership calls to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, and no one speaks out."

Sept. 15 marked the new session of the General Assembly. The question is: Will the Obama administration, which has sought greater outreach to Muslim nations, set a new -- and debilitating for Israel -- precedent of not vetoing or casting an absent vote on resolutions criticizing Israel?