Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Sunday condemned the anti-Israel resolution which was approved by a UN committee on Friday.
The resolution, which was promoted by the Palestinian Authority, calls to take the legality of Israel's "occupation" to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The committee voted to ask the ICJ for an opinion on the legal status of Israel's "prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967."
In response, Dianne Lob, Chair, and William Daroff, CEO, of the Conference of Presidents said in a statement, “The Conference of Presidents condemns the Palestinian resolution at the United Nations, which grossly distorts reality and unfairly demonizes Israel, as it seeks to weaponize the International Court of Justice. The resolution fails to address critical security concerns on the ground and its deliberate attempt to exploit the role of the Court will further exacerbate tensions. This one-sided unilateral attack by the Palestinian delegation begs the question as to their true intentions, or lack thereof, to meaningfully advance the peace process at the international body.”
“Particularly at a time of increased terrorist activity in the region, this resolution emboldens those seeking to enact violence against innocent Israelis and Palestinians,” they added.
“We are grateful for the Biden administration and our allied countries at the U.N. for rejecting this deeply biased resolution and we encourage others currently in support to review the facts and to reconsider their position before the final General Assembly vote, expected before the end of the year,” the statement concluded.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Saturday night said "Israel strongly rejects the Palestinian resolution at the United Nations. This is another unilateral Palestinian move which undermines the basic principles for resolving the conflict and may harm any possibility for a future process."
"The Palestinians want to replace negotiations with unilateral steps. They are again using the United Nations to attack Israel. This step will not change the reality on the ground, nor will it help the Palestinian people in any way; it may even result in an escalation. Supporting this move is a prize for terrorist organizations and the campaign against Israel."
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, criticized the countries that voted in favor of the resolution on Friday.
In his remarks, Ambassador Erdan said, "The Palestinians’ hypocrisy truly knows no limits… The Palestinians have rejected every single peace initiative, and now they embroil an external body with the excuse that the conflict has not been resolved but the only reason why it has not been resolved is because of their rejectionism… Involving a judicial organ in a decades-old conflict only to dictate one side’s demands on the other, ensures many more years of stagnation. Yet it seems that this is precisely what the Palestinians want, seeing as they rejected every peace plan, including the UN’s partition plan in 1947."
Ambassador Erdan added, "By co-opting the ICJ to impose a decision, the Palestinians are given the perfect excuse to continue boycotting the negotiating table to perpetuate the conflict."