Netanyahu warns of retaliation for Abbas's diplomatic warfare

"Jerusalem will not let continuous Palestinian diplomatic steps against Israel go without a response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday evening in reaction to Interpol's decision earlier in the day to admit the Palestinians as a member state.

Netanyahu's comment came at a meeting in his office with US envoy Jason Greenblatt, US Ambassador David Friedman and Israel's Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer. The Prime Minister's Office did not indicate what that response would be...

In addition to raising the Interpol issue, Netanyahu also discussed Palestinian calls – as a member of the International Criminal Court since 2015 – to bring Israelis to trial for 'war crimes,' and the Palestinian Authority's refusal to condemn Tuesday's terrorist attack in Har Adar.

According to the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu said at the meeting that the actions of the Palestinian leadership are violations of previous agreements with Israel and severely damages the chances of achieving peace.

Netanyahu directed Dermer to see whether the Palestinian moves at the ICC are a violation of US law, which could conceivably lead to a closure of the PLO offices in Washington...

The Palestinian admission to Interpol follows by two years its last success in joining a major international institution, when it gained membership into the International Criminal Court.

In 2011, the Palestinians won full state membership into UNESCO. The UNESCO precedent is troubling for Jerusalem, since that organization has annually passed anti-Israel resolutions since the Palestinians have joined, including declaring the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron a Palestinian World Heritage Site, and removing any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.

Likewise, the concern is that the Palestinians will use Interpol as a platform to continuously needle Israel, perhaps by asking the organization to issue arrest warrants against Israeli citizens. Though such requests in no way bind the organization, and even though Interpol does not have enforcement capabilities in any event, this could be a significant nuisance causing Israel headaches..."