Israeli Education Minister and Jewish Home party chairman Naftali Bennett sent a message to US Secretary of State John Kerry, stressing that a United Nation Secretary Council resolution, which was passed last week after Washington decided not to veto the Arab initiated bid which condemned Israel’s settlement policy as illegal, “was a shameful resolution that essentially defines Jerusalem as occupied territory.” “Secretary Kerry, a few days ago the United Nation Security Council voted for a shameful resolution — a resolution that resolution essentially says that Jerusalem is an occupied territory. Well, Jerusalem was the Jewish capital 3,000 years ago; it is in the Bible, just open it up. No U.N. resolution and no speech can change the fact that Jerusalem has always been and will always be the Jewish eternal capital,” said Bennett.
In response to the UN resolution, number 2334, Israel approved construction of dozens of apartments in East Jerusalem, after postponing authorization of hundreds of other homes before the resolution was passed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also instructed Israel’s Foreign Ministry to re-evaluate the country’s ties with UN institutions, and immediately halt its funding to a world body the Israeli leader defined as hostile to the Jewish state. “I instructed the Foreign Ministry to complete within a month a new evaluation of all our contacts with the U.N., including the Israeli funding of U.N. institutions and the presence of U.N. representatives in Israel.” “I already instructed to stop about 30 million shekels (US7.8 million dollars) in funding to five U.N. institutions, five bodies, that are especially hostile to Israel… and there is more to come,” said Netanyahu.
Israel has for decades pursued a policy of constructing Jewish settlements on territory captured by the Jewish state in 1967, including east Jerusalem and the West Bank, lands defined by the Bible as Judea and Samaria where the people of Israel have lived for thousands of years. The international community, however, perceived these lands as disputed territory and defines any construction with Jewish residents as illegal under international law.