Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has summoned the US ambassador to Israel to discuss the US abstention in a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to settlement-building.
Separately, the envoys of 10 other nations were called in to the Israeli Foreign Ministry to be reprimanded on Sunday, and Netanyahu had more harsh words for Washington over Friday’s UN vote.
An Israeli spokesman gave no details of when Netanyahu would meet US Ambassador Daniel Shapiro.
The resolution was passed in the 15-member Security Council because the US broke with its long-standing approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and did not wield its veto power, instead abstaining.
Netanyahu put his personal imprint on Israel’s show of anger by repeating at the weekly cabinet meeting what an unidentified Israeli government official contended on Friday – that the administration of US President Barack Obama had conspired with the Palestinians to push for the resolution’s adoption.
The White House has denied the allegation.
Read the full article by Jeffrey Heller (Reuters) at The Australian.