U.S.-Israel tensions rise as Washington backs U.N. Security Council settlement condemnation

"Tensions between Jerusalem and Washington rose on Monday as the United Nations Security Council issued a rare consensus statement of ‘dismay’ and ‘concern’ over Israeli settlement activity.

It was a move that could only have happened with the support of the Biden administration. ‘The statement should never have been made, and the United States should never have joined it,’ the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

‘The UN Security Council has issued a one-sided statement which denies the rights of Jews to live in our historic homeland, [and] fails to mention the Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem in which 10 Israeli civilians were murdered,’ it said.

The statement also ‘ignores the Palestinian Authority’s grotesque pay-for-slay policy, which subsidizes the murder of Jews, and belittles the evil of antisemitism, which has resulted in the slaughter of millions,’ it added.

The last three US administrations have strongly backed Israel’s contention that the UN is biased against it and that statements and resolutions stem from prejudice rather than any specific issue. Washington has used its veto power at the UNSC to protect Israel.

The last time the UNSC issued a consensus statement against Israel like the one published on Monday was during Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip in 2014. The UNSC in 2016 also approved resolution 2334 against settlement activity, with the US abstaining rather than vetoing..."