Trump calls UN 'sad,' days after Israeli settlements vote

"The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!"

By REUTERS
Updated: DECEMBER 27, 2016 11:59
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the Trump tower (photo credit: KOBI GIDON / GPO)
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the Trump tower
(photo credit: KOBI GIDON / GPO)
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump on Monday chided the United Nations as "sad," just days after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements despite pressure by the US president-elect for a veto by Washington.
"The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!" Trump said in a post on Twitter.

The vote passed in the 15-member Security Council on Friday after the United States broke with its long-standing approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and did not wield its veto power, as a permanent member of the forum, and instead abstained.
The issue spurred Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue unrelenting criticism of the Obama administration over what he condemned as its "shameful" decision.
An Israeli official said Sunday that Netanyahu had ordered cabinet ministers to refrain from traveling to or meeting officials of countries that voted in favor of the UN resolution until Trump takes office on January 20.
The vote can to fruition Friday after Netanyahu on Thursday successfully lobbied Egypt, which proposed the draft resolution, to withdraw it - enlisting the help of Trump to persuade Cairo to drop the bid.
UN Security Council passes resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building
Trump and Netanyahu had also urged the Obama administration to veto the resolution, with the US president-elect saying "as the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations".
"This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis," he wrote on social media.
However, New Zealand, Venezuela, Senegal and Malaysia, resubmitted the proposal a day later and the vote passed 14-0 with the US abstaining.

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Jpost.com Staff contributed to this report.


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