Israel to cut 6 million dollars in UN funding after anti-settlement resolution

"It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN,” Israel’s Ambassador to the UN said in a statement.

By DANIELLE ZIRI
Updated: JANUARY 6, 2017 20:13
The United Nations Security Council (photo credit: REUTERS)
The United Nations Security Council
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel will suspend a significant portion of its annual contributions to the United Nations for 2017 in the aftermath of Security Council resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlement activity, the Israeli mission to the UN informed the international body on Friday.
The cut, amounting to some six million dollars, is described as “an act of protest” and symbolically represents the portion of the UN budget allocated to anti-Israel bodies including: The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; The Division for Palestinian Rights;  The Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices; and Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine of the UN Department of Public Information.
 
"It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN,” Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said in a statement. “The UN must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and anti-Israel propaganda."
According to Danon, “now is the time to implement real change at the UN.” He added that Israel seeks to “stop the practice where the UN is used solely as a forum for unending attacks against Israel” by encouraging structural changes.
The Ambassador further explained that the suspension of Israel’s funding is “only the first in a series of steps under consideration by the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Mission in reaction to the recent Security Council resolution.”
Such steps, he said, will be undertaken once the new US administration takes office on January 20th.
The Security Council anti-settlement resolution passed last month has sent Israel’s relations with the international community into a turmoil.
Since the resolution passed, Netanyahu has been criticized for his aggressive response to the vote, which included accusing Washington of organizing and advancing the resolution; recalling Israel’s ambassadors to Senegal and New Zealand; summoning the ambassadors of all the UN Security Council states; and calling on ministers to curtail visits to the 14 countries that voted for the measure.