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On Friday Israel announced that it would recall its ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal, two of the 14 countries who voted in favor of the unanimously approved U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel's continued construction of illegal settlements in Palestine.
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The government of Israel also announced that it was canceling a planned state visit by the Senegalese foreign minister, as well as cutting off all aid to the impoverished West African country.
These actions, announced just hours after the U.N. Security Council approved an historic, though largely symbolic, motion condemning Israel’s “flagrant” violations of international law, were followed by a declaration by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would defy the resolution.
"Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolute at the U.N. and will not abide by its terms," said Netanyahu, leader of Israel’s extremist Likud party.
The resolution demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,” and noted that the settlements have “no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation under international law."
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully responded to the recall saying that Israel had little reason to be surprised by their vote.
“We have been very open about our view that the (security council) should be doing more to support the Middle East peace process and the position we adopted today is totally in line with our long-established policy on the Palestinian question.”
The reaction by right-wing anti-Palestinian politicians in both the U.S. and Israel was both swift and hysterical, with many saying the U.S. had “abandoned” Israel, a claim quickly mocked given President Obama’s recent approval of a US$38 billion military aid package to the country.
While many have criticized the motion for being both toothless and too late, the strong reaction by the Israeli government suggests it may help further delegitimize the country's system of apartheid and could provide material support for Palestine's complaint to the international criminal court about the settlements.
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