The United States, at Saturday’s UN meeting, abstained from voting in support of Israel, which most observers consider a break from America’s traditional support of Israel at the UN table. A vote from America would have vetoed the bill.
The bill condemned Israel for its settlements and construction projects in Palestinian territory, stating that Israel was in this in flagrant violation of international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next day summoned US Ambassador Daniel Shapiro, and the meeting is scheduled for Sunday night.
Israel also summoned ambassadors from China, France, Russia, Angola, Egypt, Japan, Spain, Ukraine and Uruguay to meet.
“Over decades American administrations and Israeli governments have disagreed about settlements, but we agreed the Security Council was not the place to resolve this issue,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also told CNN he had trustworthy information that President Barack Obama helped push the UN resolution and helped craft it.
The US government responded to this by saying that they didn’t draft it; Egypt and Palestine did.
U.S. government spokespeople are claiming that the move — considered by most observers to be a sudden break from tradition and a “parting shot” by Obama against Israel — was in line with the U.S.’s longstanding position on the matter.
