Israel rejects anti-settlement motion out of hand, will work with incoming U.S. administration to ‘negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution,’ Prime Minister’s Bureau says in statement.
Barak Ravid Dec 23, 2016 11:39 PM
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Israel rejects the UN Security Council’s anti-settlement resolution out of hand and has no intention of abiding by it, the Prime Minister’s Bureau said late Friday night.
After the vote, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli ambassadors in New Zealand and Senegal for consultation. The UN envoys on both countries pushed for the vote to take place.
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“Israel rejects the contemptible, anti-Israel UN resolution and will not subordinate itself to it,” the bureau said.
After a U.S. abstention, the Security Council voted on Friday in support of a resolution critical of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank. The U.S. refused to veto the resolution despite Israel’s call to do so.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau also lambasted United States President Barack Obama for not casting a veto against the resolution.
“The Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes,” the bureau said.
“Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution.”
Immediately after the vote, Minister Yuval Steinitz said that the United States abandoned Israel at the UN Security Council.
“The United States abandoned Israel, its only ally in the Middle East,” Steinitz told Ch. 2 News immediately after the vote. “The heart aches that after eight years of friendship… and cooperation with Obama, this is his final chord” before he leaves office.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Dannon, also criticized the U.S. abstention, saying he has ‘no doubt’ that the new U.S. administration will usher in a new era. Soon after the vote, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tweeted: “As to the UN, things will be different after Jan. 20th.”