NETANYAHU TO ISRAEL: "I AM HERE TO COMFORT EVERYONE FOLLOWING UN DECISION": Israel's PM Netanyahu made his first comments since the previous day’s, UN Security Council vote at a ceremony celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. Netanyahu told the crowd that he was there to comfort everyone following the UN's decision. "The Security Council decision calls Israeli land occupied and that is just shameful, the decision calls the Western Wall occupied land, it is shameful," Netanyahu said. Speaking of USA President Obama's choice to abstain from voting, Netanyahu stated that Obama went against Israel, backing out of the commitment it had made to stand for Israel. "The decision not only does not help us make peace, it stands in the way of peace," stated Netanyahu. “Israel will not accept the decision and it will be cancelled,” he said, "though it may take time". He also stated that Israel would stop funding UN institutions.

The UN Security Council voted on Friday, 23 Dec. 2016 to adopt a resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity as illegal, and demanding that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the 'occupied' Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem". Fourteen out of the 15 voting members of the Council voted in favor of the resolution, none voted against it, and the United States chose to abstain instead of casting its veto on the initiative. The new resolution, which is the most extreme ever issued, claims all Israeli towns built outside the pre-1967 borders are illegal and renders their residents international criminals. Netanyahu, on Sunday, 25 Dec. 2016 instructed that the ambassadors of those countries that voted in favor of the UN Security Council anti-Israel resolution be summoned for reprimand at the Foreign Ministry. (J.Post)