Netanyahu Slams Kerry's Speech Defending UN Vote as 'Unbalanced'

"Israel fired back at Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasting Kerry's lengthy televised rebuke of the Middle Eastern democracy.

Netanyahu, speaking in Jerusalem just over an hour after Kerry's speech had ended, said Kerry's rhetoric was 'as unbalanced as the anti-Israel resolution passed [at the United Nations] last week.'...

Israeli officials have said since the Security Council resolution was passed on Friday that the U.S. played a covert role in developing the proposal -- charges the U.S. has denied. Israel's government was enraged after the U.S. abstained from voting on the resolution, which called Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem a violation of international law.

But Netanyahu on Wednesday made the firmest -- and most-high ranking -- accusation that America secretly worked toward advancing the resolution.

'We have it on absolutely incontestable evidence the U.S. organized, advanced and brought this resolution to the Security Council,' said Netanyahu, who promised to share the 'sensitive' intelligence with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump...

Netanyahu said that while he sought peace, his Palestinian counterpart, President Mahmoud Abbas, has walked away from peace offers 'time and time again.'

Earlier Wednesday, Kerry sparked the diplomatic showdown when he questioned Netanyahu's commitment to Palestinian statehood...

Netanyahu's office, however, immediately slammed Kerry's speech as 'skewed against Israel' and "obsessively' dealing with the issue of Israeli settlements...

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon also panned Kerry's speech. 'To coordinate anti-Israeli initiatives with the Palestinians at the U.N. and to advance a one-sided resolution against Israel in the Security Council is the opposite of supporting Israel,' Danon said. 'The Obama Administration acted against Israel at the U.N. and any claim to the contrary is a distortion of reality.'..."