27 dec 2016
Last week, the UN General Assembly voted on a resolution calling to form a body that would gather evidence on war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in Syria, but the PMO told Israel’s delegates not to arrive at the vote, apparently due to pressure from Russia, which did not want its soldiers implicated in such an investigation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed Israel’s delegation to the UN to skip a UN General Assembly vote last Wednesday on a resolution draft calling to form a body that would investigate the Syrian civil war, apparently due to pressure from Russia.
After the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israel's settlements, Netanyahu bemoaned that “half a million human beings are being slaughtered in Syria. Tens of thousands are being butchered in Sudan. The entire Middle East is going up in flames and the Obama administration and the Security Council choose to gang up on the only democracy in the Middle East – the State of Israel.”
On Wednesday, the UN sought to pass Resolution A/71/L.48, which calls to form an "International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of those Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011."
It was raised by Luxembourg, but written by several other countries from Europe and the Middle East.
A senior Western official at the UN, who worked on preparing the resolution draft, said its objective "is to collect as much evidence and testimonies about war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed and are being committed in Syria, so when the time comes, even if that takes many years, we could prosecute the guilty.”
“We want experienced criminal investigators to join the fighting forces,” he explained. “At this point they will only collect and preserve the evidence—cellphones, fingerprints, weapons, testimonies, recordings and photographs. At the next stage, based on ability and accessibility to witnesses and to the accused, indictments will be formulated."
The official mentioned that it was only thanks to the massive efforts of evidence collection carried out by the Allies at the end of World War II and immediately after that Nazi war criminals could be brought to justice.
"We were sure the entire world would unite behind the decision, except Iran and Russia—which is worried the investigation will include evidence against actions Russian soldiers were involved it—and several other allies of the Assad regime. We had no doubt Israel would support it," the official said.
In the days that preceded the vote, officials at the Israel Foreign Ministry and at the Prime Minister's Office debated on how to vote. Most asserted that Israel, perhaps more than any other country, must stand with the enlightened world in demanding to bring to justice those who have been responsible for terrible war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
On the other hand, some argued that the decision would serve as a problematic precedent for Israel: If the UN General Assembly, rather than the Security Council, has the authority to form inquiry bodies, it could form one to investigate Israel as well in the future.
Eventually, the Foreign Ministry decided to recommend voting in favor of the resolution draft.
But behind the scenes, according to sources in Jerusalem, Russia put immense diplomatic pressure on Israel, followed by an order from Netanyahu to skip the vote.
"This was a diplomatic decision made by the highest ranks in the government," a senior Foreign Ministry official confirmed on Monday. "I cannot elaborate beyond that."
The resolution draft was adopted by the UN after 105 countries voted in favor, 52 abstained, 15 voted against and 15 missed the vote. Among those not present were Rwanda, Eritrea, Libya, Angola—countries in which grave war crimes have taken place in the past—and Israel.
The UN official claimed that "a cynical deal has been made between Israel and Russia. In the end you got nothing for it because two days later, the Russians screwed Israel over on the settlements resolution."
"Israel, of all countries, doesn't come to a vote calling to investigate genocide?!" the UN official wondered.
The Foreign Ministry and the PMO refused to comment on the report.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid was outraged by the report, saying his late father Tommy Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, would not have forgiven Israel for remaining silent in the face of the atrocities in Syria.
"Children are being murdered in Syria,” Lapid wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday. “Tens of thousands of children are as hungry as he was, are being bombarded as he was, being sentenced to death as he was. And we didn't bother showing up to the vote. We weren't even asked to help, just take a moral stance, and even that we did not do."
"My father had always blamed the world for staying silent," he continued. "For not doing anything while he was in the ghetto and his father—my grandfather—died in the gas chambers. If he knew we were silent at this moment, he would not have forgiven us."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed Israel’s delegation to the UN to skip a UN General Assembly vote last Wednesday on a resolution draft calling to form a body that would investigate the Syrian civil war, apparently due to pressure from Russia.
After the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israel's settlements, Netanyahu bemoaned that “half a million human beings are being slaughtered in Syria. Tens of thousands are being butchered in Sudan. The entire Middle East is going up in flames and the Obama administration and the Security Council choose to gang up on the only democracy in the Middle East – the State of Israel.”
On Wednesday, the UN sought to pass Resolution A/71/L.48, which calls to form an "International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of those Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011."
It was raised by Luxembourg, but written by several other countries from Europe and the Middle East.
A senior Western official at the UN, who worked on preparing the resolution draft, said its objective "is to collect as much evidence and testimonies about war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed and are being committed in Syria, so when the time comes, even if that takes many years, we could prosecute the guilty.”
“We want experienced criminal investigators to join the fighting forces,” he explained. “At this point they will only collect and preserve the evidence—cellphones, fingerprints, weapons, testimonies, recordings and photographs. At the next stage, based on ability and accessibility to witnesses and to the accused, indictments will be formulated."
The official mentioned that it was only thanks to the massive efforts of evidence collection carried out by the Allies at the end of World War II and immediately after that Nazi war criminals could be brought to justice.
"We were sure the entire world would unite behind the decision, except Iran and Russia—which is worried the investigation will include evidence against actions Russian soldiers were involved it—and several other allies of the Assad regime. We had no doubt Israel would support it," the official said.
In the days that preceded the vote, officials at the Israel Foreign Ministry and at the Prime Minister's Office debated on how to vote. Most asserted that Israel, perhaps more than any other country, must stand with the enlightened world in demanding to bring to justice those who have been responsible for terrible war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
On the other hand, some argued that the decision would serve as a problematic precedent for Israel: If the UN General Assembly, rather than the Security Council, has the authority to form inquiry bodies, it could form one to investigate Israel as well in the future.
Eventually, the Foreign Ministry decided to recommend voting in favor of the resolution draft.
But behind the scenes, according to sources in Jerusalem, Russia put immense diplomatic pressure on Israel, followed by an order from Netanyahu to skip the vote.
"This was a diplomatic decision made by the highest ranks in the government," a senior Foreign Ministry official confirmed on Monday. "I cannot elaborate beyond that."
The resolution draft was adopted by the UN after 105 countries voted in favor, 52 abstained, 15 voted against and 15 missed the vote. Among those not present were Rwanda, Eritrea, Libya, Angola—countries in which grave war crimes have taken place in the past—and Israel.
The UN official claimed that "a cynical deal has been made between Israel and Russia. In the end you got nothing for it because two days later, the Russians screwed Israel over on the settlements resolution."
"Israel, of all countries, doesn't come to a vote calling to investigate genocide?!" the UN official wondered.
The Foreign Ministry and the PMO refused to comment on the report.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid was outraged by the report, saying his late father Tommy Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, would not have forgiven Israel for remaining silent in the face of the atrocities in Syria.
"Children are being murdered in Syria,” Lapid wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday. “Tens of thousands of children are as hungry as he was, are being bombarded as he was, being sentenced to death as he was. And we didn't bother showing up to the vote. We weren't even asked to help, just take a moral stance, and even that we did not do."
"My father had always blamed the world for staying silent," he continued. "For not doing anything while he was in the ghetto and his father—my grandfather—died in the gas chambers. If he knew we were silent at this moment, he would not have forgiven us."
Spokesman for Prime Minister Netanyahu says Arab sources confirmed Washington actively helped craft the anti-settlements resolution; 'We're not just going to be a punching bag and go quietly into the night as the Obama administration helps push such a grave resolution,' spokesman David Keyes says.
Doubling down on its public break with the Obama administration, a furious Israeli government on Tuesday said it had received "ironclad" information from Arab sources that Washington actively helped craft last week's UN resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal.
"We have ironclad information that emanates from sources in the Arab world and that shows the Obama administration helped craft this resolution and pushed hard for its eventual passage," said David Keyes, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We're not just going to be a punching bag and go quietly into the night as the Obama administration helps push such a grave resolution," he said.
He did not identify the Arab sources or say how Israel obtained the information.
The allegations further poison the increasingly toxic atmosphere between Israel and the outgoing Obama administration in the wake of Friday's vote, and raised questions about whether the White House might take further action against Israeli settlements in its final weeks in office.
With the US expected to participate in an international peace conference in France next month and Secretary of State John Kerry planning a final policy speech, the Palestinians said they were hoping to capitalize on the momentum from the Security Council vote.
Although the US has long opposed Israeli settlements on disputed lands, it has traditionally used its veto in the UN Security Council to protect its ally Israel from international censure. But in a change of policy, it abstained from Friday's vote, allowing the resolution to pass by a 14-0 margin.
Netanyahu, who has long had a cool relationship with President Barack Obama, has called the resolution "shameful" and accused the US of playing a leading role in its passage.
Israel has close security ties with Egypt, an original sponsor of last week's resolution. Under heavy Israeli pressure, Egypt delayed the resolution last week before other council members presented it for a vote a day later. Egypt ended up voting in favor of the measure.
Doubling down on its public break with the Obama administration, a furious Israeli government on Tuesday said it had received "ironclad" information from Arab sources that Washington actively helped craft last week's UN resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal.
"We have ironclad information that emanates from sources in the Arab world and that shows the Obama administration helped craft this resolution and pushed hard for its eventual passage," said David Keyes, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We're not just going to be a punching bag and go quietly into the night as the Obama administration helps push such a grave resolution," he said.
He did not identify the Arab sources or say how Israel obtained the information.
The allegations further poison the increasingly toxic atmosphere between Israel and the outgoing Obama administration in the wake of Friday's vote, and raised questions about whether the White House might take further action against Israeli settlements in its final weeks in office.
With the US expected to participate in an international peace conference in France next month and Secretary of State John Kerry planning a final policy speech, the Palestinians said they were hoping to capitalize on the momentum from the Security Council vote.
Although the US has long opposed Israeli settlements on disputed lands, it has traditionally used its veto in the UN Security Council to protect its ally Israel from international censure. But in a change of policy, it abstained from Friday's vote, allowing the resolution to pass by a 14-0 margin.
Netanyahu, who has long had a cool relationship with President Barack Obama, has called the resolution "shameful" and accused the US of playing a leading role in its passage.
Israel has close security ties with Egypt, an original sponsor of last week's resolution. Under heavy Israeli pressure, Egypt delayed the resolution last week before other council members presented it for a vote a day later. Egypt ended up voting in favor of the measure.
Breaking the Silence activist delivers a speech
Education minister sponsoring bill banning ‘organizations that operate in the country and the world that harm soldiers and the IDF from entering educational institutions in Israel’; proposal garners support across political spectrum, due to be brought before legislative committee within two weeks;: ‘organizations are trying to spread their lying doctrine among our children.’
Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) is spearheading a law proposal designed to completely clamp down on “organizations which operate in Israel against IDF soldiers.”
The proposed legislation, which will be prepared and submitted by MKs Shuli Mualem and Bezalel Smotrich—also from the same party—aims to prohibit such organizations from entering Israeli schools and other educational institutions.
‘Breaking the Silence’ and its activities have provided an impetus behind the initiative, featuring high on Bennett’s agenda as the bill is formulated after an unsuccessful attempt to ban the group last year from schools.
Moreover, Bennett caught wind of the fact that its speakers had delivered lectures in schools during recent weeks to students in a number of different institutions across the country.
The bill therefore, seeks to grant Bennett the authority, “as head of the (educational) system and responsible for matters relating to Israeli students, to forbid people or organizations that are not part of the education system to hold activities within educational institutions when the nature of their activities are to undermine the aims of education or those which harm IDF soldiers with a consensus across Israeli society,” the bill reads.
“The educational system in Israel is not only the system that strives to achieve results for students, but it is also the belief system pursuant to the laws and values acquired by it.”
The bill has garnered support from across the political spectrum, even managing to harness the endorsement of the opposition, thereby increasing the chances of the bill’s passage in all stages of the legislative procedure.
Among those who are planning to back the bill are Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, Kulanu MK Meirav Ben-Ari, Oded Forer from Yisrael Beytenu, Likud’s Yoav Kish and others.
The bill’s authors estimate that the proposed legislation will pass in its reading in the The Ministerial Committee for Legislation within the coming two weeks.
Lapid, who was among the bill’s chief architects, said: “It cannot be that the educational system of the State of Israel allows the entry of organizations which slander the officers and soldiers of the IDF, calls them criminals and encourages the refusal to carry out orders. Think what happens to a student who hears these stories the moment before he is drafted into the IDF. What does it do to his motivation and his willingness to contribute?”
Lapid went on to say, “These kinds of organizations harm soldiers, put them and Israeli state officials at risk of being brought to trial by the international community by disseminating outright lies.”
The same organizations are currently trying to spread their “lying doctrine”, Lapid continued, “among our children. In order to protect the IDF, its soldiers and the values of the state...we must stop this.”
Bennett is seeking to push the bill as swiftly as possible by circumventing the usual time procedures entailed in the legislative process.
Normally, proposed bills require 45 days, from the moment that they have been submitted to the Knesset Secretariat, before being brought before the Ministerial Committee of Legislation.
However, in this instance, Bennett has signalled his intention to ask the committee to approve an exception from the submissions requirements in order to expedite the entire process.
The first reading is expected to take place on Sunday next week and will then be brought for a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday. Here Bennett is expected to ask for a complete ban on the entry of Breaking the Silence into schools.
“Organizations that go around the world harming IDF soldiers will not go into schools,” Bennett said. “The ministry of education invests a lot in promoting values such as contributing to the state and even organizations that harms the state, whether in or outside of Israel, will not harm this. In the coming weeks we will act together with all our partners ...and pass this important bill.”
Breaking the Silence issued its own response to the proposal, delivering a direct attack on Bennett.
“Bennett can continue in his attempts to turn the educational system into an educational system for occupation and destruction of all democratic values on the altar of the settlement enterprise but this failed in the past and it will fail this time,” the statement read.
Education minister sponsoring bill banning ‘organizations that operate in the country and the world that harm soldiers and the IDF from entering educational institutions in Israel’; proposal garners support across political spectrum, due to be brought before legislative committee within two weeks;: ‘organizations are trying to spread their lying doctrine among our children.’
Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) is spearheading a law proposal designed to completely clamp down on “organizations which operate in Israel against IDF soldiers.”
The proposed legislation, which will be prepared and submitted by MKs Shuli Mualem and Bezalel Smotrich—also from the same party—aims to prohibit such organizations from entering Israeli schools and other educational institutions.
‘Breaking the Silence’ and its activities have provided an impetus behind the initiative, featuring high on Bennett’s agenda as the bill is formulated after an unsuccessful attempt to ban the group last year from schools.
Moreover, Bennett caught wind of the fact that its speakers had delivered lectures in schools during recent weeks to students in a number of different institutions across the country.
The bill therefore, seeks to grant Bennett the authority, “as head of the (educational) system and responsible for matters relating to Israeli students, to forbid people or organizations that are not part of the education system to hold activities within educational institutions when the nature of their activities are to undermine the aims of education or those which harm IDF soldiers with a consensus across Israeli society,” the bill reads.
“The educational system in Israel is not only the system that strives to achieve results for students, but it is also the belief system pursuant to the laws and values acquired by it.”
The bill has garnered support from across the political spectrum, even managing to harness the endorsement of the opposition, thereby increasing the chances of the bill’s passage in all stages of the legislative procedure.
Among those who are planning to back the bill are Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, Kulanu MK Meirav Ben-Ari, Oded Forer from Yisrael Beytenu, Likud’s Yoav Kish and others.
The bill’s authors estimate that the proposed legislation will pass in its reading in the The Ministerial Committee for Legislation within the coming two weeks.
Lapid, who was among the bill’s chief architects, said: “It cannot be that the educational system of the State of Israel allows the entry of organizations which slander the officers and soldiers of the IDF, calls them criminals and encourages the refusal to carry out orders. Think what happens to a student who hears these stories the moment before he is drafted into the IDF. What does it do to his motivation and his willingness to contribute?”
Lapid went on to say, “These kinds of organizations harm soldiers, put them and Israeli state officials at risk of being brought to trial by the international community by disseminating outright lies.”
The same organizations are currently trying to spread their “lying doctrine”, Lapid continued, “among our children. In order to protect the IDF, its soldiers and the values of the state...we must stop this.”
Bennett is seeking to push the bill as swiftly as possible by circumventing the usual time procedures entailed in the legislative process.
Normally, proposed bills require 45 days, from the moment that they have been submitted to the Knesset Secretariat, before being brought before the Ministerial Committee of Legislation.
However, in this instance, Bennett has signalled his intention to ask the committee to approve an exception from the submissions requirements in order to expedite the entire process.
The first reading is expected to take place on Sunday next week and will then be brought for a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday. Here Bennett is expected to ask for a complete ban on the entry of Breaking the Silence into schools.
“Organizations that go around the world harming IDF soldiers will not go into schools,” Bennett said. “The ministry of education invests a lot in promoting values such as contributing to the state and even organizations that harms the state, whether in or outside of Israel, will not harm this. In the coming weeks we will act together with all our partners ...and pass this important bill.”
Breaking the Silence issued its own response to the proposal, delivering a direct attack on Bennett.
“Bennett can continue in his attempts to turn the educational system into an educational system for occupation and destruction of all democratic values on the altar of the settlement enterprise but this failed in the past and it will fail this time,” the statement read.
With help from the new Donald Trump US administration, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu plans to target UNRWA, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and all anti-Israeli UN employees, as well as cut funding for UN agencies.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday, Netanyahu decided to take several punitive measures against the UN on Sunday night in retaliation to its Security Council resolution that calls for ending settlement construction.
Netanyahu also instructed his ministers not to hold meetings with ministers from countries that supported the Security Council motion, including Britain, France, Spain, Japan, Ukraine and Russia, or travel there.
In addition, he ordered foreign ministry officials to reduce contact with the embassies of those countries.
He justified his intent to target the UNRWA by accusing the agency of investing a great deal of manpower and resources to undermine and harm Israel.
He claims that UNRWA teachers and other employees regularly incite the Palestinian population against Israel.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday, Netanyahu decided to take several punitive measures against the UN on Sunday night in retaliation to its Security Council resolution that calls for ending settlement construction.
Netanyahu also instructed his ministers not to hold meetings with ministers from countries that supported the Security Council motion, including Britain, France, Spain, Japan, Ukraine and Russia, or travel there.
In addition, he ordered foreign ministry officials to reduce contact with the embassies of those countries.
He justified his intent to target the UNRWA by accusing the agency of investing a great deal of manpower and resources to undermine and harm Israel.
He claims that UNRWA teachers and other employees regularly incite the Palestinian population against Israel.
Angolan Embassy representative with a parking ticket
After west African oil producer voted in favor of UNSC resolution condemning settlements, PM ends all aid to country; Angola occupies province of Cabinda, who's people have been fighting for independence since 1960.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce on Tuesday that Israel will suspend all development aid to the African nation of Angola following the latter’s support of a recent UN resolution condemning Israeli West Bank construction.
This is the latest in a series of retaliatory, diplomatic measures against those who went against the Jewish State. Angola is one of 14 countries who supported the anti-Israel resolution.
Angolan diplomats promised Israel that they would abstain from voting on the resolution, but decided to go against their word.
Additionally, when being called in to clarify his country’s actions during a meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, the Ambassador decided to park illegally, and was given a parking ticket from the municipality.
Angola is a major oil producing state, and currently occupies the province of Cabinda. Cabindans have been fighting for a sovereign independent state since 1960.
The Israeli Prime Minister also told his cabinet that he will not meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the Davos economic forum which will be taking place in January. He also ordered his cabinet members not to go to countries which supported the anti-Israel resolution, and ordered his ministers not to meet with their counterparts from these countries.
Netanyahu ordered the Israeli ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal to come back to Israel in retaliation for those two countries’ efforts in promoting the bill. All aid, including security aid, has been stopped to Senegal. The west African Muslim has had repeated issues with al-Qaeda.
After west African oil producer voted in favor of UNSC resolution condemning settlements, PM ends all aid to country; Angola occupies province of Cabinda, who's people have been fighting for independence since 1960.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce on Tuesday that Israel will suspend all development aid to the African nation of Angola following the latter’s support of a recent UN resolution condemning Israeli West Bank construction.
This is the latest in a series of retaliatory, diplomatic measures against those who went against the Jewish State. Angola is one of 14 countries who supported the anti-Israel resolution.
Angolan diplomats promised Israel that they would abstain from voting on the resolution, but decided to go against their word.
Additionally, when being called in to clarify his country’s actions during a meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, the Ambassador decided to park illegally, and was given a parking ticket from the municipality.
Angola is a major oil producing state, and currently occupies the province of Cabinda. Cabindans have been fighting for a sovereign independent state since 1960.
The Israeli Prime Minister also told his cabinet that he will not meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the Davos economic forum which will be taking place in January. He also ordered his cabinet members not to go to countries which supported the anti-Israel resolution, and ordered his ministers not to meet with their counterparts from these countries.
Netanyahu ordered the Israeli ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal to come back to Israel in retaliation for those two countries’ efforts in promoting the bill. All aid, including security aid, has been stopped to Senegal. The west African Muslim has had repeated issues with al-Qaeda.
Israel fears that the United States and France want to advance another pro-Palestine move before the Obama administration wraps up its term, Haaretz reported Monday.
Haaretz quoted a senior Israeli official in Occupied Jerusalem as stating that during Sunday’s security cabinet meeting, ministers were presented with an assessment that during the international conference of foreign ministers scheduled for January 15 in Paris as part of the French peace initiative, a series of decisions on the peace process will be made. These will immediately be brought to the UN Security Council for a vote and will be adopted there before January 20.
The move presented to the ministers led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tell the Likud ministers during their subsequent meeting that Friday’s vote in the Security Council on the settlements was not the end of the story and that there are possible other steps taken by the international community, the official added.
Representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the National Security Council, and others who attended the security cabinet meeting presented information indicating that the trend in talks between France, the U.S. and other countries in preparation for the foreign ministers’ meeting tended toward advancing such a move, he added.
According to the information that Israel has, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wants to utilize the foreign ministers’ parley, which will be attended by representatives of dozens of countries, to deliver an address that presents his vision for the two-state solution.
The senior official said that Israel fears this address will include American principles for resolving the core issues of borders, refugees, security arrangements and Jerusalem.
It was such fears about the foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris that led Netanyahu to instruct his ministers to avoid public statements to the media about launching a wave of settlement construction or annexing parts of the West Bank in response to Friday’s Security Council resolution.
“The effort now is to see how to prevent such a move at the Paris conference,” the senior official said. “That’s why there is no need to provoke and no need to do anything to add fuel to this.”
Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador to Israel to clarify matters over the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
Netanyahu has also stepped up the diplomatic response to the UN vote and ordered the government to freeze ties with the 12 countries that supported the resolution.
Haaretz quoted a senior Israeli official in Occupied Jerusalem as stating that during Sunday’s security cabinet meeting, ministers were presented with an assessment that during the international conference of foreign ministers scheduled for January 15 in Paris as part of the French peace initiative, a series of decisions on the peace process will be made. These will immediately be brought to the UN Security Council for a vote and will be adopted there before January 20.
The move presented to the ministers led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tell the Likud ministers during their subsequent meeting that Friday’s vote in the Security Council on the settlements was not the end of the story and that there are possible other steps taken by the international community, the official added.
Representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the National Security Council, and others who attended the security cabinet meeting presented information indicating that the trend in talks between France, the U.S. and other countries in preparation for the foreign ministers’ meeting tended toward advancing such a move, he added.
According to the information that Israel has, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wants to utilize the foreign ministers’ parley, which will be attended by representatives of dozens of countries, to deliver an address that presents his vision for the two-state solution.
The senior official said that Israel fears this address will include American principles for resolving the core issues of borders, refugees, security arrangements and Jerusalem.
It was such fears about the foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris that led Netanyahu to instruct his ministers to avoid public statements to the media about launching a wave of settlement construction or annexing parts of the West Bank in response to Friday’s Security Council resolution.
“The effort now is to see how to prevent such a move at the Paris conference,” the senior official said. “That’s why there is no need to provoke and no need to do anything to add fuel to this.”
Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador to Israel to clarify matters over the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
Netanyahu has also stepped up the diplomatic response to the UN vote and ordered the government to freeze ties with the 12 countries that supported the resolution.
26 dec 2016
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered during the cabinet weekly meeting late Sunday to reduce all diplomatic relations with 12 of the countries that voted in favor of UNSC settlement resolution.
According to Haaretz Hebrew newspaper, Netanyahu instructed his government to reduce ties with countries that backed the UN anti-settlement resolution.
Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu decided not to declare future settlement plans to avoid any new UN resolutions.
The UN Security Council voted last week in favor of a resolution demanding a halt to Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank, with no votes against, and the United States notably abstaining.
The resolution calls the Israeli settlements a violation of international law and an obstacle to implementing a two-state solution.
According to Haaretz Hebrew newspaper, Netanyahu instructed his government to reduce ties with countries that backed the UN anti-settlement resolution.
Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu decided not to declare future settlement plans to avoid any new UN resolutions.
The UN Security Council voted last week in favor of a resolution demanding a halt to Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank, with no votes against, and the United States notably abstaining.
The resolution calls the Israeli settlements a violation of international law and an obstacle to implementing a two-state solution.
