Israel cuts million dollar funding to UN over critical resolution

Israeli prime minister, Benyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday morning announced that Israel will cut another $1 million dollar funding to the UN over its resolution criticising Israeli policy.

Netanyahu’s announcement, according to Haaretz newspaper, came during a cabinet meeting following UNESCO passing the  resolution, and reportedly had ‘softer language’ regarding ‘Jewish connections to historic sites in Jerusalem.’

The resolution, which 22 countries voted in favor of it, including Sweden,  expressed criticism of Israeli conduct in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

As a result, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish Ambassador to Israel Carl Magnus Nesser.

23 countries abstained from the vote including France, Spain, Slovenia and Estonia, while the United States, Italy, Great Britain, Holland, Lithuania and Greece voted against it.

In response, Netanyahu described the resolution as “bizarre”, adding  that “this harassment has a price.”

According to Haaretz, over the course of 2016, Israel transfered $11.7 to the UN in membership fees. The amount each country pays for membership is set according to that country’s size. Netanyahu previously ordered $6 million to be cut from the funds in tranfers to the UN after the passing of Security Council Resolution 2334 against settlements in the West Bank.

Another $2 million was cut one month ago after a UN Human Rights Council decision against the settlements.

After the new cut announced by Netanyahu on Wednesday, Israel is set to pay just $2.7 million in membership fees annually. Senior officials in Jerusalem said that UN member states that have accumulated debt for not paying their membership fees may find themselves denied the right to vote in some UN institutions.