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Israel has suspended its multimillion dollar contribution to a number of United Nations bodies and is reevaluating its relationship with the organization, after the UN Security Council passed a resolution on Israeli settlement construction. “I instructed the Foreign Ministry to complete within a month a re-evaluation of all our contacts with the United Nations, including the Israeli funding of UN institutions and the presence of UN representatives in Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Saturday while addressing the nation. “I have already instructed to stop about 30 million shekels ($7.8 million) in funding to five UN institutions, five bodies,...

The Times of Israel reports: The United States’ failure to veto a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements was the “last sting of President Obama” that exposed his “true face,” unnamed Israeli officials said Saturday evening. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, thanked President-elect Donald Trump for his promise for support at the international body after he takes office. The US’s abstention in Friday’s vote “is the last sting of President Obama. It exposes the true face of the [Obama] administration,” the officials said Saturday evening. “Now it’s easier to understand what we dealt with the past eight years.”

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel will re-assess its ties with the United Nations following the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. The vote was able to pass the 15-member council on Friday because the United States broke with a long-standing approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and did not wield its veto power as it had on many times before - a decision that Netanyahu called "shameful". "I instructed the Foreign Ministry to complete within a month a re-evaluation of all our contacts with the United...

A "shameful" abstention by the U.S. in a United Nations Security Council vote Friday allowed passage of a resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. The resolution was put forward by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal after Egypt withdrew it Thursday under pressure from Israel and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. It was adopted with 14 votes in favor, to a round of applause, after U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power abstained. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years. Reaction from U.S. Republicans and Jewish leaders around...

UNSC voting on anti-Israel settlement resolution. Israel claims Obama "cooked up" the resolution with the Palestinians!

The U.N. was expected to vote today on a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, and reports indicate that Obama was ready to allow the resolution to pass until Egypt put off the vote. President-elect Donald Trump put pressure on Egypt not to go forward with the resolution, and it seems to have had an effect. Charles Krauthammer said that the resolution could have done serious damage to Israel, making Trump’s involvement daring and effective: More than a slap on the wrist, I think it would have done permanent damage to Israel, which is why even Obama himself...

TEL AVIV — The Obama administration secretly worked with the Palestinian Authority to craft a “shameful” United Nations resolution behind Israel’s back, an Israeli official told reporters on Friday. “President Obama and Secretary Kerry are behind this shameful move against Israel at the UN. The US administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti Israeli resolution behind Israel’s back which would be a tailwind for terror and boycotts and effectively make the Western Wall occupied Palestinian territory... ...This is an abandonment of Israel which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN and undermines the...

The White House’s decision to break with decades of U.S. policy and allow the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements is the culmination of years of bad blood between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  The decision won Obama criticism from across the political spectrum, and almost certainly wouldn't have been made if Hillary Clinton had won the presidential election. It opened him up to condemnation from President-elect Donald Trump and the right, and could lead to a battle over U.S. funding for the U.N. in Congress.  But Obama's team decided it was worth it.

The United Nations Security Council has scheduled a meeting for November 11, and sources indicate the resolution for Palestinian statehood will likely be voted on that day. Though the US has threatened to veto the measure, the Palestinians hope to get the nine votes necessary for approval, forcing the U.S. to step in to stop it. Currently eight of the nine countries needed have declared support for the measure. My sources in Israel fear that a US veto will be the trigger for a new outbreak of violence and perhaps even full-scale war. Iran has spent hundreds of millions arming...

For two days in October, the John Kerry campaign came to a brief stop at a hotel and conference center on the high-plains sprawl of suburban Denver, where the candidate holed up with his staff and prepared for his second debate with George Bush. While the traveling press idled over endless buffets in one of the hotel dining rooms, Kerry and his closest advisers sequestered themselves behind closed doors, getting ready for the next night's crucial events. The morning's calm was broken when Kerry's press advisers began circulating word that the candidate would soon be making a statement about the...

EU says it would reconsider position on PA if Abu Ala resigns After meeting FM Shalom in Jerusalem, EU foreign affairs chief Solana says if Abu Ala ends up just as Abu Mazen, conclusions could be drawn. Gil Horev Solana (right) and Shalom today in Jerusalem (Foreign Ministry photo). If Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei (Abu Ala) resigns we would have to reconsider our position regarding the Palestinian Authority, European Union foreign affairs chief Javier Solana has stated. During a press conference he held with Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom after a joint meeting this (Thursday) afternoon in Jerusalem, Solana said,...

I'm listening to the internet feed of Bachelor & Alexander's show on WABC. My feed was almost totally garbled, but John Bachelor was talking to some Brit (who sounded pomously against US policy). Bachelor was about to reveal something he'd heard regarding the expected UN vote. There was much garbled sound, but then there seemed to be a clear and somewhat angry clash between Bachelor and his phone guest regarding the idea that (in Bachelor's words) the "international community, whatever that is" could stop the US from attacking Iraq. Then my feed cut to music. Anyone listening able to fill...

BERLIN, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The German government on Saturday rejected as "pure speculation" a magazine report saying it had already decided internally to vote against any U.N. Security Council resolution authorising war on Iraq. Der Spiegel magazine reported that, despite statements to the contrary, the government had made a decision it would "definitely not vote 'yes' on any war vote". Germany began a two-year term on the Council and will chair it in February. "Reports about how Germany will vote in the Security Council are pure speculation," a government spokesman said. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, when asked about the...