Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu Summons U.S. Ambassador in Protest at U.N. Resolution

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned the U.S. ambassador on Sunday to lodge a protest over the Obama administration's failure to block a United Nations resolution that condemned Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Israeli officials said.

The Israeli foreign ministry also summoned top diplomats from 10 of the 14 countries who voted in favor of the resolution that deemed the settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace, the officials said. Israel doesn't have diplomatic relations with some countries that voted for the U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday, such as Malaysia, while other countries don't have permanent representatives in the country...

It was approved with 14 members in favor and the U.S. abstaining, while in the past the U.S. had used its veto power to block such resolutions.

Israel expressed its consternation to U.S. ambassador Daniel Shapiro at a meeting in the prime minister's office, insisting the resolution wouldn't help to bring Israelis and Palestinians together for talks, according to an Israeli official. In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed that Messrs. Netanyahu and Shapiro were scheduled to meet Sunday, but declined to comment further.

'Acts such as these hinder peace and [do] not promote it. That was the message,' said another Israeli official, adding that representatives of the U.K., China, Russia, France and other states had individual meetings with Israeli officials.

The reprimand of diplomats follows two days of Israeli condemnations of the White House administration for allowing the U.N. resolution to pass. It underscored the deep disagreements between President Barack Obama and the Israeli leader over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...

Earlier on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu again accused the U.S. of concocting the resolution with the Palestinian leadership to undermine Israel.

'We have no doubt that the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed,' Mr. Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office..."