Israel says it is withholding about $6 million from its annual United Nations dues, following a U.N. Security Council resolution last month calling for an end to Israel’s “settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

The United States abstained from voting on the measure, opening the way for the other 14 members of the Council to unanimously pass the resolution.

Israel’s U.N. mission said Friday the $6 million cut from its annual $40 million contribution to the world body represents funds that would be allocated to U.N. committees focused on Palestinian issues.

“It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the U.N.,” Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement.

The Israeli U.N. mission said it will take other steps aimed at “ending anti-Israel activities” after Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president.

On Thursday, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution condemning the U.N. stance and criticizing President Barack Obama’s administration for abstaining in the Security Council vote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the U.S. abstention on the U.N. resolution a “shameful” swipe against Washington’s traditional ally.

Palestinians, however, have hailed the vote, with former Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat calling it “a clear and unanimous message” to Netanyahu that his policies will not lead to peace or security for Israel or Palestinians.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in settlements that most world governments view as illegal. The Obama administration has called them “illegitimate.”

Citing biblical connections to the land and modern-day security concerns, Israel claims all of Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories seized during the Six-Day War of 1967. </s> Palestinian workers build new Jewish housing in the Israeli settlement Ma'ale Adumim, near Jerusalem, in the West Bank on Dec. 28. In response to a United Nations resolution condemning the settlements, Israel announced Friday it would withhold $6 million in dues to the international agency. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

NEW YORK, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Israel announced it will withhold $6 million from its annual United Nations dues in protest of a resolution condemning Israeli settlements built on land disputed with the Palestinians.

Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement the $6 million, out of a total $40 million in annual dues, represents the percentage his country estimates the United Nations spends supporting Palestinian causes.

"It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the U.N.," Danon said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Israel was incensed at the resolution, which passed the U.N. Security Council after the United States abstained, clearing the way for the remaining nations to vote yes. The United States has traditionally vetoed or threatened to veto Security Council resolutions aimed at curtailing Israeli settlements or placing terms on any potential peace negotiations. The abstention marked a change in the waning days of the Obama administration, as officials openly expressed frustration with their ally Israel over the lack of progress seeking a two-state solution to end years of conflict with the Palestinians.

The decision by Israel comes a day after the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Security Council resolution. President-elect Donald Trump also condemned the resolution and said the United States should have vetoed it. </s> UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel said on Friday it would cut $6 million in funding to the United Nations in 2017 in protest against a U.N. Security Council resolution that demanded an end to Israeli building on land liberated in the Six-Day War.

The United States abstained from the Dec. 23 vote, allowing the 15-member Security Council to adopt the resolution with 14 votes in favor. Israel and President-elect Donald Trump had called for Washington to wield its veto.

Israel’s mission to the United Nations said funding would be cut to U.N. bodies it described as “anti-Israel,” including the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights.

“It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the U.N.,” Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement. “The U.N. must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and anti-Israel propaganda.”

The Israeli mission said it would move ahead with further initiatives aimed at ending anti-Israel activities at the United Nations after Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

The U.N. Security Council last adopted a resolution critical of settlements in 1979, with the United States also abstaining. </s> UNITED NATIONS: Israel said on Friday it would cut US$6 million in funding to the United Nations in 2017 in protest against a U.N. Security Council resolution that demanded an end to Israeli settlement building on land Palestinians want for an independent state.

The United States abstained from the Dec. 23 vote, allowing the 15-member Security Council to adopt the resolution with 14 votes in favour. Israel and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had called for Washington to wield its veto.

Israel's mission to the United Nations said funding would be cut to U.N. bodies it described as "anti-Israel," including the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights.

"It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the U.N.," Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement. "The U.N. must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and anti-Israel propaganda."

The Israeli mission said it would move ahead with further initiatives aimed at ending anti-Israel activities at the United Nations after Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war. Most countries and the United Nations view Israeli West Bank settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Israel disputes that settlements are illegal and says their final status should be determined in any future talks on Palestinian statehood. The last round of U.S.-led peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians collapsed in 2014.

The Security Council last adopted a resolution critical of settlements in 1979, with the United States also abstaining. </s> (JTA) — Israel will cut approximately $6 million of its annual contribution to United Nations’ bodies it deems “anti-Israel” following the passage by the U.N. Security Council of an anti-settlement resolution.

The cuts represent “an act of protest” in response to the resolution adopted last month and target “the portion of the U.N. budget allocated to anti-Israel bodies,” said a statement Friday by Israel’s U.N. mission.

Those bodies include the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian Rights, the Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, and the Special Information Program on the Question of Palestine of the U.N. Department of Public Information.

Israel’s annual contribution to the United Nations amounts to over $40 million, a spokesman for the mission told JTA in an email. The U.N.’s budget for 2016-17 totals $5.4 billion, with the U.S. being the largest contributor followed by Japan and China.

The resolution adopted last month — 14 countries voted in favor, with only the U.S. abstaining — called Israeli settlements “a flagrant violation of international law” that damage the prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the resolution and said he was planning to cut Israeli aid to U.N. bodies, according to the Israeli daily Maariv.

Israel’s decision to cut funds is “the first in a series of steps under consideration by the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Mission in reaction to the recent Security Council resolution,” the statement said.

The mission is planning to move ahead with additional initiatives after Donald Trump assumes the U.S. presidency on Jan. 20. Trump had called for a U.S. veto of the resolution, and slammed President Barack Obama after the vote for treating Israel with “total disdain and disrespect.”

American presidents have long protected Israel from extreme censure at the U.N. As recently as 2011, President Barack Obama vetoed a similar resolution on settlements that, like this one, was adamantly opposed by Israel.

On Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged the U.S. to cut taxpayer funding to the U.N. unless the international body repeals the anti-settlement resolution, according to a statement. </s> (AFP) UNITED NATIONS — Israel on Friday suspended about $6 million in funding to the United Nations to protest a Security Council resolution demanding an end to settlements in the West Bank

The council adopted the resolution last month after the United States refrained from using a veto to block the measure in a break from its usual practice of shielding its Middle East ally.

The cut to Israel’s $40 million annual contribution to the United Nations represented the portion of the UN budget allocated to four committees on Palestinian issues, the Israeli mission said.

“It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN,” Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement.

“We seek to stop the practice where the UN is used solely as a forum for unending attacks against Israel.”

The announcement came a day after the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of a measure condemning the UN stance and chastising President Barack Obama’s administration for abstaining in the Security Council vote.

The cut in funding is the first in a series of retaliatory measures that the Israeli mission said would be taken at the United Nations after the new US administration takes office. </s> Israel has announced it is cutting approximately $6m in its annual dues to the United Nations this year to protest last month’s security council resolution condemning Israeli settlements as “a flagrant violation under international law”.

Israel’s UN mission said the amount represented the portion of Israel’s contribution to the UN’s regular budget totalling more than $40m allocated “to anti-Israel bodies”.

It named the UN agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the Division for Palestinian Rights, the committee investigating Israeli practices affecting Palestinian human rights, and information programs on “the Question of Palestine”.

“It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN,” Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said. “The UN must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and anti-Israel propaganda.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, asked to comment, said: “We have not been informed.”

Israel’s UN mission said the cut in funding was the first in a series of steps under consideration by the foreign ministry and the mission in reaction to the recent security council resolution.

The Obama administration’s decision to abstain and allow the UN security council to approve a long-sought resolution condemning Israeli settlements as an obstacle to a two-state solution was a sharp rebuke to a longstanding ally and marked a striking rupture with past US vetoes.

Israel’s UN mission said it would move forward on additional initiatives “aimed at encouraging structural change within the UN with the ultimate goal of ending anti-Israel activities” after Donald Trump becomes US president on 20 January.

The president-elect has criticized Barack Obama’s green light for the security council condemnation.

On Thursday, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan resolution rebuking the United Nations for criticizing Israeli settlements and declaring unwavering support for Israel. The non-binding resolution insists that the United States reject any future UN actions that are similarly “one-sided and anti-Israel”. </s> Jerusalem : Israel said that it would cut $6 million in funding to the United Nations in 2017 in protest against a U.N. Security Council resolution that demanded an end to Israeli settlement building on land Palestinians want for an independent state.

Israel's mission to the United Nations said funding would be cut to U.N. bodies it described as "anti-Israel," including the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights.

U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement, “It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the U.N. </s> UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted on Thursday against a resolution sponsored by U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley to condemn the Palestinian Hamas group as a terrorist organization. The resolution said it would be supporting "just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians," CBS News' Pamela Falk reports.

In a symbolic stride, the U.S. resolution did garner support by a majority of members, but failed because it required a supermajority.

Haley had been working with the EU and other regional blocs to get the support for the U.S. resolution, which it did, Falk said.

The vote was symbolically important because, from the time Haley arrived at the U.N. in January 2017, she has made a point of trying to turn the tide of what the Trump administration considers overwhelmingly anti-Israel resolutions and this vote illustrated what an uphill battle that turned out to be.

Before the vote, in a letter to diplomats obtained by CBS News, Haley wrote "the United States takes the outcome of this vote very seriously." Haley told the General Assembly before the vote that "peace must be built on truth. To its shame, the General Assembly has avoided the truth of Hamas terrorism for far too long."

Before the vote on the resolution, the 193-member world body had narrowly voted to require a two-thirds majority for approval as sought by Arab nations for rather than the simple majority urged by the United States.

Haley told the assembly before the vote that it could make history and unconditionally speak out against Hamas, which she called "one of the most obvious and grotesque cases of terrorism in the world."

But the vote on the resolution to condemn Hamas was 87 in favor against 57 opposed, with 33 abstentions — a plurality but below the two-thirds requirement to adopt it. The vote to require a two-thirds majority was much closer, 75-72, with 26 abstentions and several countries changing their votes to "yes" at the last minute.

The U.S. attempt to condemn Hamas and demand that the militant group stop firing rockets into Israel, using "airborne incendiary devices," and putting civilians at risk sparked a Palestinian-backed amendment sponsored by Bolivia.

It outlined the basis for comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace and referred to a December 2016 Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law. It also reaffirmed "unwavering support" for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - issues not included in the U.S. draft.

But before the vote on the U.S. draft resolution, Bolivian Ambassador Sacha Llorenty Soliz withdrew the amendment.

That was because the Palestinians and their supporters wanted a vote instead on a short rival resolution sponsored by Ireland that included the exact language of the amendment.

After the U.S. draft on Hamas failed to win adoption, the General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the Irish resolution by a vote of 156-6, with 12 abstentions.

It calls for "the achievement, without delay, of a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East" on the basis of U.N. resolutions, singling out the December 2016 measure, and reaffirms "unwavering support ... for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders, based on the pre-1967 borders."

The rival resolutions reflect the deep divisions among the 193 U.N. member states over the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and the failure to end it.
Israel announces it will withhold $6 million from its annual United Nations dues in protest of the December 23, 2016, Security Council settlement resolution.