Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday night addressed Israel’s decision to suspend a significant portion of its annual contributions to the United Nations for 2017, in response to the approval of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israel’s presence in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.
“Yesterday we officially announced to the United Nations that we will be cutting our annual contribution to the UN by six million dollars. Israel will not support bodies that are acting against it as a result of UN sponsorship,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook.
“One of these organizations is UNRWA, which funds Palestinian textbooks that incite against Israel, deny Israel's right to exist, and call the city of Tel Aviv ‘Tel al-Rabia,’” he added.
“In two weeks I will receive recommendations from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for additional steps to take against the United Nations.”
Israel on Friday informed the UN of its intention to cut funding to anti-Israel UN bodies.
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, commented on the decision and said, "It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN. The UN must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and anti-Israel propaganda."
Danon added that "now is the time to implement real change at the UN. We seek to stop the practice where the UN is used solely as a forum for unending attacks against Israel."
In the wake of the anti-Israel resolution, several American lawmakers have called for the U.S. to stop funding to the UN until the resolution is reversed.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has announced he will propose a measure to pull U.S. funding for the UN unless the UN Security Council repeals the resolution it passed.