clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israel downgrades ties with UN Security Council members

December 28, 2016 at 12:02 pm

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on Monday to reduce its diplomatic ties with the member states of the UN Security Council, which passed a resolution last week that condemned Israeli settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories.

According to CNN, Israel limited working ties and high-level visits with UNSC members, including permanent members such as Britain, France, Russia and China, though the United States’ diplomatic mission was spared Netanyahu’s ire.

The stepping down of ties included Israeli cancellation of planned state visits by diplomats from these countries, reducing relations to a minimum level with the embassies of these countries in Israel and conducting no meetings with their representatives.

Israel has not withdrawn any of its ambassadors, nor has it expelled the ambassadors of the countries it is now reacting against for passing the resolution against illegal Jewish settlements.

Israel also targeted Egypt, which Israel has considered as a strategic partner since the military coup against former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, orchestrated by current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

Israel’s displeasure with Cairo comes despite the fact that Egypt’s resolution was withdrawn under Israeli pressure. However, Cairo was outmanoeuvred and the resolution was brought to the UNSC by four other countries, embarrassing Egypt and forcing it to vote in favour.

Last Friday, the UN Security Council voted 14-0 on a resolution that condemns Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, considering it a “flagrant violation” of international law and demanded a halt to “all Israeli settlement activities” as “essential for salvaging the two-state solution.”

“The establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution,” the resolution affirms.

Although the United States did not vote in favour of the resolution, it abstained from the vote and did not exercise its veto, leading Netanyahu to accuse President Barack Obama and his administration of sabotage.