As Paris peace summit nears, Israel makes 'big efforts' to prevent another UN resolution
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that "we will work either to repel the resolution in the UN Security Council, or to change it in a manner so that it does not harm Israel.”
By HERB KEINONUpdated: JANUARY 8, 2017 23:45United Nations General Assembly Sept 27(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel is making “a very great effort” to prevent another anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.Netanyahu’s comments came at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, in which he pointed out that the Frenchled Mideast summit in Paris is just a few days away. The summit, which Netanyahu has adamantly opposed, is scheduled to take place next Sunday.The prime minister has said in recent days that he is worried decisions made at the conference will be turned into a resolution on the diplomatic process that will then be taken to the Security Council.Netanyahu again welcomed the US House of Representatives resolution last week that slammed the anti-settlement UN Security Council Resolution 2334 that Washington allowed to pass last month.The House motion called for the Security Council resolution to be “repealed or fundamentally altered so that it is no longer one-sided and anti-Israel; and it allows all final-status issues toward a two-state solution to be resolved through direct bilateral negotiations between the parties.”US abstains from UN vote to end Israeli settlement buildingThe House measure also said that “any future measures taken in international or outside organizations, including the United Nations Security Council or at the Paris conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict scheduled for January 15, 2017, to impose an agreement, or parameters for an agreement including the recognition of a Palestinian state, will set back the cause of peace, harm the security of Israel, run counter to the enduring bipartisan consensus on strengthening the United States-Israel relationship, and weaken support for such organizations.”The House resolution represents only one track in efforts “that we are making in order to prevent bad resolutions against Israel at the UN,” Netanyahu said.“I am also telling you that we will work – as it says in the House resolution – either to repeal the resolution in the UN Security Council, or to change it in a manner so that it does not harm Israel.”Netanyahu pointed out that the House resolution passed with overwhelming support from both parties. It passed by a vote of 342-90, with 233 Republicans voting for the measure, and only four voting against; and 109 Democrats voting for the motion, and 76 against.