Netanyahu fears more international measures as he accuses world of ‘spitting at us’

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu fears more international measures against his country. “They are spitting at us,” he told his cabinet on Sunday. He also noted that the outgoing US President Barack Obama might try to get the UN Security Council to approve the principle of a Palestinian state. “We will respond forcefully,” insisted the Israeli prime minister in a report by the Times of Israel.

According to Haaretz, a senior Israeli official said on Monday that the cabinet expects international resolutions regarding the peace process during a summit slated to be held in Paris on 15 January as part of the so-called French Initiative. US Secretary of State John Kerry will lay down the principle of the Palestinian state during a speech about the Middle East, which may also be delivered in Paris.

Netanyahu apparently fears that Kerry will attend the Paris conference, and that the international Middle East Quartet might coordinate the positions of its members – the US, Russia, EU and UN – and turn to the Security Council to take some measures before the end of Obama’s term in office.

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The Israeli leader has made public his outrage at the Obama administration several times since Security Council Resolution 2334 was passed last week. He insists that Obama initiated and helped draft it “behind Israel’s back.”

The Times of Israel reports that Netanyahu is trying to reach out to the incoming Trump administration to persuade it to impose punitive measures on any UN Security Council member state which supports any resolution deemed to be damaging to Israel.

On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding Israel to halt settlement building and expansion in the Palestinian territories. The resolution, which was co-sponsored by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela, was passed by a 14-0 vote after the United States abstained.

As a response to the resolution, Israel and it’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to conduct ‘revenge demolitions‘ of Palestinian homes; approved building some 5,600 housing units in East Jerusalem for illegal settlements;  cut funding to five UN institutions worth $7.8 million; threatened to directly target UNRWA with Trump’s help; and recalled it’s ambassadors from Senegal and New Zealand.