Israel’s Netanyahu lashes out at Obama over UN vote

Trump also condemned the U.N. vote Saturday, taking to Twitter to say it “will make it much harder to negotiate peace.” But, he added, “we will get it done anyway.”

A year ago, Trump told The Associated Press that he wanted to be “very neutral” on Israel-Palestinian issues, but his comments became much more pro-Israel as the race progressed and he took a sharp tone against the Palestinians.

Netanyahu said the U.S abstention was “in complete contrast” to U.S. commitments — including one that he said Obama made in 2011 — not to impose conditions for a final agreement on Israel at the Security Council. “The Obama administration conducted a shameful anti-Israel ambush at the U.N.,” Netanyahu said.

The White House declined to comment on Netanyahu’s criticism.

The U.S. and much of the international community consider Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as an obstacle to peace. Netanyahu rejects such claims, blaming the failure of peace efforts on the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel’s Jewish identity.

The decision to abstain from vote was one of the biggest American rebukes of its long-standing ally in recent memory and marked a final chapter in the icy relations between Netanyahu and Obama over the last eight years.

Netanyahu called the decision “distorted” but said Israel will overcome it.

He said he had spoken with U.S leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, who vowed to fight the move, including he said, from Israel’s “friend” in the incoming administration, the president-elect.

“The decision taken at the U.N. yesterday was part of the swan song of the old world biased against Israel,” Netanyahu said. “We are entering a new era and as the President-elect Trump said yesterday, this is going to happen much quicker than people think. In this new era there is a high price for those trying to harm Israel,” he said.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Israel’s Netanyahu lashes out at Obama over UN vote

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