Israeli P.M Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his nations Foreign Ministry to temporarily limit all working ties with the embassies of the 12 UN Security Council members.

The order comes following Friday’s (23rd December) vote on the resolution on West Bank settlements and who have diplomatic relations with Israel

According to senior Israeli officials the business with the embassies of Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Egypt, Uruguay, Spain, Senegal and New Zealand will be suspended

They added that Prime Minister Netanyahu will not meet with the foreign ministers of those countries and their ambassadors will not be received at Israel’s Foreign Ministry while travel by Israeli ministers to those countries will also be limited, the officials said, noting that Israeli ambassadors in the countries will still be able to continue working with the governments of their host nations

The move came after ten ambassadors were summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a personal rebuke over the vote,under orders by Netanyahu

Israel was taken aback by the passage of Security Council resolution 2334, which states that the settlements in the West Bank “had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security.”

The United States, a Security Council member, abstained on the resolution.

The diplomatic move to suspend embassy ties was done mostly to express Netanyahu’s anger at the countries that voted for the resolution and it is unlikely to have any practical effect on either Israel or the other countries, as it does not affect trade, security coordination, or other aspects of the relations.

However as a statement, it is significant, and it is a continuation of Netanyahu’s diplomatic actions against countries that voted for the resolution.

On Sunday Netanyahu launched an attack on on the Obama administration; however it does not affect diplomatic relations with the United States, which has been the focus of much of Netanyahu’s anger.

“Israel’s not going to be kicked in the teeth and not just respond to this,” said Israel’s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, explaining his country’s diplomatic moves

“We can’t just meet with visiting dignitaries as if nothing has happened. This is a serious effort against Israel.”

Dermer added Friday’s UN Security Council vote caused harm on the long-term prospects for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

“The one negotiating chip that we have at the peace table is that territory. If the UN Security Council says that territory actually belongs to the Palestinians — which it does not and which we reject — that’s going to make achieving peace actually much harder.” </s> Israel’s foreign ministry said Tuesday the country was “reducing” ties with nations that voted for last week’s UN Security Council resolution demanding a halt to settlement building in Palestinian territory.

Refuting reports that ties had been suspended, foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that Israel was “temporarily reducing” visits and work with embassies.

“Until further notice, we’ll limit our contacts with the embassies here in Israel and refrain from visits of Israeli officials to those states, and of visits of officials from those states here,” he told AFP.

Israel has already called back its ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal for consultations, and cancelled aid programmes with the African state.

On Tuesday, Israel informed Angola it would be freezing its aid programme there, Nahshon said.

Israeli media have reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also serves as foreign minister, has asked officials to visit the countries that voted for the resolution as little as possible for now.

At least two trips have been cancelled or postponed, including this week’s visit to Israel by Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and an upcoming visit by the Senegalese foreign minister.

There have also been reports that Netanyahu was calling off a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May at next month’s World Economic Forum in Davos, but there has been no official confirmation.

Deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely said Tuesday she was concerned that Israel would miss opportunities to explain its position by cancelling visits, but that she supported making clear “you can’t take Israel for granted.”

Countries should not be able to “make pilgrimages to Israel to learn about fighting terror, cyber-defence and agricultural technologies, and in the UN do whatever you want,” she told army radio.

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have responded with especially harsh language to Friday’s Security Council resolution which passed after the United States abstained from voting.

Netanyahu has alleged that US President Barack Obama “colluded” to see the “shameful” resolution through in the waning days of his administration.

By deciding not to veto the move, the United States enabled the adoption of the first UN resolution since 1979 to condemn Israel over its settlement policy.

The text was passed with support from all remaining members of the 15-member council.

Israel summoned ambassadors of countries that voted for the resolution on Sunday -- Christmas Day -- while Netanyahu also met with US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro.

Security Council members such as Russia, China and Britain are key to Israeli diplomacy or trade and some analysts suggested the measures being taken were more symbolic than substantive.

The United States is Israel’s most important ally and provides it with more than $3 billion per year in defence aid.

On Monday, Netanyahu defended his response to the UN vote in the face of criticism that he was overreacting, saying “we do not turn the other cheek”.

“Not only will our relations with the nations of the world not be harmed, over time they will only improve because the nations of the world respect strong countries that stand up for themselves and do not respect weak ingratiating countries that bow their heads,” he told a conference. </s> Israel temporarily suspended its working ties with the embassies of the 12 UN Security Council members after Friday’s resolution citing the country’s settlement on West Bank “illegal.”

CNN reports say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Israel’s foreign ministry to temporarily limit working ties with the members who voted in favour of Friday’s resolution. These countries are Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Egypt, Uruguay, Spain, Senegal and New Zealand.

The passage of Security Council resolution 2334 declared that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank “had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security.”

The suspension of working ties with the embassies of the 12 nations entails the following:

One, Netanyahu will not meet with the foreign ministers of those countries and their ambassadors will not be received at Israel’s foreign ministry.

Second, travel by Israeli ministers to those countries will also be limited and other dignitary visits.

However, Israeli officials said the report was “simply untrue” and that “we’re talking about temporarily limiting our work with embassies and regarding dignitary visits.”

What About the United States

The United States, a Security Council member, abstained on the resolution, but did not use its veto to block it. But Prime Minister Netanyahu was not happy about that.

He told his Cabinet on Sunday, “From the information that we have, we have no doubt that the Obama Administration initiated it, stood behind it, co-ordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed.”

Israel captured East Jerusalem along with the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War in 1967, but annexed the city as its united capital in a move not recognized by the international community. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future State.

Many nations, including the United States, consider the settlements that Israel has built-in what it calls “occupied land” as illegal.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been stalled since late September last year following Israel’s refusal to extend a 10-month freeze on settlement activity. That decision prompted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw from direct talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. </s> Israel suspending ties with UNESCO following vote denying Jewish connection to Jerusalem

(JTA) – Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel would suspend its cooperation with UNESCO because of the U.N. agency’s decision to ignore Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem. Bennett’s statement on Friday, Oct. 14 followed passionate condemnations by Israel as well as international Jewish groups and communities of a vote the previous day in Paris by the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Through a majority of 24 to 6 votes, the board passed a preliminary version of a resolution that calls several sites holy to Judaism only by their Islamic names without mentioning its Jewish names in Hebrew or English. The sites include the Temple Mount, referred to as Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif.

Israeli officials will neither meet UNESCO representatives nor engage in cooperation in international conferences or professional cooperation with the organization, Bennett said in a statement that followed the outpouring of condemnations – including by a U.S. official who called the vote “one-sided and unhelpful.”

Bennett in his statement said of the UNESCO countries, “Your decision denies history and encourages terror. Those who give prizes to the supporters of Jihad in Jerusalem the same week that two Jews are murdered in the city could God forbid encourage more victims.”

The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia voted against the resolution and 26 countries abstained. Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO called the voting an improvement to previous votes by the U.N. agency, saying Western countries had supported previous measures with similar language on Jerusalem. Russia and China were among those that backed the resolution.

“This vote was certainly unpleasant, but I’m very pleased with the result,” Ambassador Carmel Shama-Hacohen told Army Radio Friday morning. “Our goal was to bring back France and our friends in Europe to not support the Palestinian resolution.”

He noted that Sweden, whose government is a harsh critic of Israel and the only EU Cabinet member that recognizes the Palestinian Authority as a state, also sat out the vote, as did India, which historically has supported anti-Israel resolutions in U.N. forums.

France and Sweden both abstained from Thursday’s vote after supporting a UNESCO resolution in April that also ignored the site’s Jewish ties. The April vote saw 33 votes in favor, 6 against and 17 abstentions.

Classified as pertaining to “Occupied Palestine,” the UNESCO resolution passed Thursday was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan. While it affirms “the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions,” it contains two references to Judaism: One in describing holy sites in Hebron and the other in decrying “the enforced creation of a new Jewish prayer platform south of the Mughrabi Ascent in Al-Buraq Plaza.”

The so-called al-Buraq Plaza is better known as the Western Wall Plaza – possibly Judaism’s holiest site. The use of the Arabic-language name is a recent development lifted from Hamas literature, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The chairman of UNESCO’s executive board said he hoped for a delay of a full vote on a controversial resolution.

“We need more time and dialogue between the members of the board to reach a consensus,” Michael Worbs told the French news agency AFP. The resolution was expected to go to a full vote on Tuesday, but Worbs indicated to AFP that he hoped it would be delayed. “For 40 years, UNESCO has always managed to find consensual decisions on the Middle East,” he said. “But since autumn 2010 it has become more and more difficult.”

Also Friday, UNESCO’s director-general, Irina Bokova, seemed to express a different view from that expressed in the resolution. “To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list [in 1981],” Bokova said. </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> 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. </s> (CNN) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his nation’s Foreign Ministry to temporarily limit all working ties with the embassies of the 12 UN Security Council members who voted in favor of Friday’s resolution on West Bank settlements and who have diplomatic relations with Israel, two senior Israeli officials tell CNN.

The officials said that business with the embassies of those countries — Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Egypt, Uruguay, Spain, Senegal and New Zealand — will be suspended, the officials said.

Netanyahu will not meet with the foreign ministers of those countries and their ambassadors will not be received at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the officials added.

In addition, travel by Israeli ministers to those countries will also be limited, the officials said, noting that Israeli ambassadors in the countries will still be able to continue working with the governments of their host nations.

The move came after ten ambassadors were summoned, under orders by Netanyahu, to the Foreign Ministry for a personal rebuke over the vote. Israel was furious at the passage of Security Council resolution 2334, which says its settlements in the West Bank “had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security.” The United States, a Security Council member, abstained on the resolution.

More than anything else, the diplomatic move to suspend embassy ties is a statement meant to express Netanyahu’s anger at the countries that voted for the resolution. It is unlikely to have any practical effect on either Israel or the other countries, as it does not affect trade, security coordination, or other aspects of the relations.

But as a statement, it is significant, and it is a continuation of Netanyahu’s diplomatic actions against countries that voted for the resolution.

Notably, it does not affect diplomatic relations with the United States, which has been the focus of much of Netanyahu’s anger. Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador and launched a scathing attack Sunday on the Obama administration.

Late Monday afternoon Israel’s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, explained his country’s diplomatic moves to CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.”

“Israel’s not going to be kicked in the teeth and not just respond to this,” Dermer said. “We can’t just meet with visiting dignitaries as if nothing has happened. This is a serious effort against Israel.”

Dermer said Friday’s UN Security Council vote harmed long-term prospects for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

“The one negotiating chip that we have at the peace table is that territory. If the UN Security Council says that territory actually belongs to the Palestinians — which it does not and which we reject — that’s going to make achieving peace actually much harder.” </s> (JTA) – Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel would suspend its cooperation with UNESCO, because of the UN agency’s decision to ignore Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem.

Bennett’s statement Friday followed passionate condemnations by Israel as well as international Jewish groups and communities of a vote Thursday in Paris by the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Through a majority of 24 to 6 votes, the board passed a preliminary version of a resolution that calls several sites holy to Judaism only by their Islamic names without mentioning its Jewish names in Hebrew or English. The sites include the Temple Mount, referred to as Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif.

Israeli officials will neither meet UNESCO representatives nor engage in cooperation in international conferences or professional cooperation with the organization, Bennet said in a statement that followed the outpour of condemnations – including by a US official who called the vote “one-sided and unhelpful.”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called the move by UNESCO a “one-sided attempt to ignore Israel’s 3,000-year bond to its capital city” and “further evidence of the enormous anti-Israel bias” at the United Nations.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy adviser Laura Rosenberer condemned the resolution stating, “It’s Outrageous that UNESCO would deny the deep, historic connection between Judaism and the Temple Mount.”

“Your decision denies history and encourages terror,” Bennett wrote the countries of UNESCO. “Those who give prizes to the supporters of Jihad in Jerusalem the same week that two Jews are murdered in the city could god forbid encourage more victims.”

The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia voted against the resolution as 26 additional countries abstained, in what Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO called an improvement to previous UNESCO votes that were supported by Western countries although they contained similar language on Jerusalem. Russia and China were among those backing it.

“This vote was certainly unpleasant but I’m very pleased with the result,” Ambassador Carmel Shama-Hacohen told Army Radio Friday morning. “Our goal was to bring back France and our friends in Europe to not support the Palestinian resolution.”

He noted that Sweden, whose government is a harsh critic of Israel and the only EU cabinet that recognizes the Palestinian Authority as a state, also sat out the vote, as did India, which historically has supported anti-Israel resolutions in UN forums.

France and Sweden both abstained from Thursday’s vote after supporting a UNESCO resolution in April that also ignored the site’s Jewish ties. The April vote saw 33 votes in favor, six against and 17 abstentions.

Classified as pertaining to “Occupied Palestine,” the UNESCO resolution passed Thursday was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan. While it affirms “the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions,” it contains two references to Judaism: One in describing holy sites in Hebron and the other in decrying “the enforced creation of a new Jewish prayer platform south of the Mughrabi Ascent in Al-Buraq Plaza.”

The so-called al-Buraq Plaza is better known as the Western Wall Plaza – possibly Judaism’s holiest site. The use of the Arabic-language name is a recent development lifted from Hamas literature, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. </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.
Israel's Foreign Ministry announces that it is "reducing" ties with some of the UN Security Council countries that voted to pass United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.