Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his weekly cabinet meeting, took the opportunity to accuse the United Nations of what he said was the “systematic harassment” of Israel, after the international organization’s heritage body, UNESCO, approved a resolution earlier this week which rejected Israel’s claim to sovereignty in the city of Jerusalem. Netanyahu warned that the actions by the United Nations had severe consequences, revealing that he has already instructed a deduction from Israel’s annual transfers to the world body.
“I would also like to say that this systematic harassment has a price. In wake of the resolution, I have instructed Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem to deduct $1 million from the funds that Israel transfers to the UN. Israel will not sit by while the organization calls for the denial of our sovereignty in Jerusalem,” said Netanyahu.
Even though Netanyahu accused the United Nations of becoming a theater of the absurd, he identified a point of light, in which fewer countries supported the anti-Israeli resolution as opposed to previous such resolutions, a positive trend that seems to become consistent. The Israeli leader praised the countries that supported the Jewish state in actions, rather than words, while mentioned the significant effort Israel’s diplomatic core conducts to increase support for the Jewish state among the international community.
“We are working constantly to increase support for Israel in international bodies in order to reflect our growing status vis-à-vis bilateral contacts with countries We are also working constantly to reduce, and I hope one day to cancel altogether, the UN theater of the absurd regarding the State of Israel,” added Netanyahu.