Israel blasts UN’s ‘shameful’ settlement vote

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lambasted as “shameful” a UN call to end illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land and pledged not to abide by the vote.

The UN document was adopted on Friday after the US refused to veto it, breaking with long-standing American practice. It was therefore adopted by 14 votes to zero, with one abstention.

“Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms,” Netanyahu said. “At a time when the Security Council does nothing to stop the slaughter of half a million people in Syria, it disgracefully gangs up on the one true democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and calls the Western Wall ‘occupied territory’.”

He said that the US administration of outgoing President Barack Obama “not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes”, and added that he looked forward to working with Donald Trump.

Trump, who will be inaugurated as US President on 20 January, tweeted after Friday’s vote: “As to the UN, things will be different after Jan. 20th.”

On Thursday, Trump had urged the Council to defeat the motion.

“Peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations,” he said. “This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesperson said the resolution was a “big blow to Israeli policy, a unanimous international condemnation of settlements and a strong support for the two-state solution.”

The Egyptian-drafted resolution had originally been withdrawn after Israel asked Trump to intervene, but it was subsequently proposed again by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela.

Israel has also announced that its ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal have been ordered to return for consultations and that it was cutting all aid programmes to Senegal. Israel has no diplomatic ties with Malaysia and Venezuela.